Denmark-based LEGO Corporation is set to invest in a manufacturing plant with total investment capital of over US$1 billion in the southern province of Binh Duong.
| Overview of the signing ceremony. Photo: Hai Minh |
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh attended the signing ceremony on December 8 between representatives of LEGO and Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) on the construction of the plant, which is scheduled to kick off in late 2022 and become operational in 2024.
The plant, expected to create over 4,000 jobs and run on solar energy, would be a sixth of LEGO in the world and the second in Asia, with which the Danish Corporation is expected to expand its global supply chains and better adapt to changes in customer behaviors in each region.
At the ceremony, LEGO COO Carsten Rasmussen expressed his thanks to the Vietnamese Government, especially Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, for their roles in facilitating the construction of LEGO’s first carbon-neutral plant.
Denmark Ambassador to Vietnam Kim Hojlun Christensen noted the plant is Danish largest investment ever in Vietnam, demonstrating the Nordic country’s confidence and optimism for the future of the bilateral relations.
In a meeting last September with Deputy Prime Minister Minh, Hojlun Christensen informed Binh Minh of LEGO’s intention to seek a location in Southeast Asia for its new plant, for which the deputy prime minister responded he would hold a phone talk with LEGO executives to coordinate this project. The talk between Minh and Rasmussen took place less than 15 days later.
Prime Minister Chinh during his trip to the UK to attend the COP26 also met with LEGO's COO on November 1.
Chinh called for LEGO to work with Vietnamese Government agencies and localities to choose a suitable location to ensure mutual benefits and hoped there would soon be LEGO products made in Vietnam.
LEGO Corporation was founded by Ole Kirk Kristiansen in Billund, Denmark in 1932. Its toys are now sold in over 130 countries and territories around the world.
