Speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Chief Executive Vadim Varshavsky said, "We want specific investment projects implemented on Vietnamese soil, both in the coal and the metals industries."
Russky Ugol [Russian Coal], whose annual coal output is estimated at 15 million metric tons, will open several plants in Vietnam "in a couple of years' time," said Varshavsky.
Vietnamese government officials hailed the advent of the company as an important step toward boosting cooperation in the coal industry as well as in the energy sector as a whole.
The two countries have long been cooperating in the oil and gas industry, primarily via their Soviet-era joint venture Vietsovpetro, which accounts for 65% of all crude produced in Vietnam. In recent years, they have also stepped up cooperation in coal mining and electricity generation.
Russia currently runs around 50 projects in Vietnam, including a Kamaz project to assist the Vietnam Coal Corporation (VinaCoal) in building a heavy-duty truck factory in the central Quang Nam province and a Siloviye Mashiny [Power Machines] project to supply equipment to Vietnam's A Vuong hydro-electric power plant.
