Belgium's king meets Vietnam's leaders, hydrogen deals signed

On Tuesday, King Philippe of Belgium and Vietnamese leaders signed agreements to collaborate in areas such as green hydrogen.

The first visit by a Belgian royal to Vietnam is accompanied by a large delegation of businessmen, academics and politicians.

According to Vietnamese state-run media, Vietnam's president Luong Cuong described Philippe's visit as a landmark in bilateral relations.

According to the EU Council's website, he urged Belgium ratify a 2019 investment protection agreement signed between Vietnam and the European Union. The agreement was signed but still requires ratification by one third of EU 27 member states.

In the next few weeks, top EU leaders will travel to Vietnam to strengthen relations between Hanoi & Brussels in light of the rising tensions over trade with the United States.

Diplomats confirmed that Spain's Pedro Sanchez, and EU Trade Commissioner Maros SEFCIOVIC will be visiting Hanoi in the next week.

According to the Belgian Embassy in Hanoi, King Philippe does not usually make more than one official state visit per year outside of the European Union.

During this visit, the Belgian engineering company John Cockerill, along with Vietnamese partners, signed non-binding, provisional agreements for the production and distribution of green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is a fuel produced from water using renewable energy sources.

A spokesperson for the Belgian company said that the agreements were a first step in the possibility of investing in a factory in Vietnam to manufacture machines to produce hydrogen, such as pressurised alkaline-water electrolysers.

The factory will serve all of Southeast Asia, said the spokesperson. He declined to give a specific investment figure.

According to the revised long-term energy plan of Vietnam, the draft dated February 20,25, the country plans to install by the mid-century plants that will produce about 15 gigawatts from hydrogen.

This is a slight revision down from the previous target of 16.4 GW and would represent about 2% (or 2% of total installed capacity) by 2050.

(source: Reuters)