Attending the meeting were Mr. Nguyen Van Hong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Can Tho city, and representatives of relevant departments and sectors in Can Tho city namely Planning and Investment, Industry and Trade, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, Science and Technology, Foreign Affairs, Management Board of Export Processing Zones and Can Tho Industry.

At the meeting, Mr. Lyou Kwang Min, chief of the office of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s SK Group, said that there are similarities between Vietnam and Korea in terms of economic development and environmental protection. Meanwhile, although the cost of producing green hydrogen is still high compared to other energy sources, with its environmentally friendly advantages, green hydrogen is considered a suitable solution for economic development in a safe and sustainable direction.

The project of producing and supplying green hydrogen is aimed at domestic consumption in Vietnam to develop alongside other industries. Currently, many other cities in Vietnam have small projects related to hydrogen production for export. After researching, Can Tho city - the center of the Mekong Delta region is suitable to become the core location for green hydrogen development in Vietnam. This is also the first step towards the goal of reducing carbon emissions to zero that the Government of Vietnam has committed.

Speaking at the working session, Mr. Tran Viet Truong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Can Tho city, informed that Can Tho city is the economic center and development engine for the Mekong Delta region - where there is a lot of potential for the development of renewable energy to produce green hydrogen. In addition, the Government is about to promulgate the electricity master plan VIII from the point of view of regional balance, limiting inter-regional transmission and not building any more inter-regional transmission lines until 2045. Therefore, the development of renewable energy sources of Can Tho City will be even more meaningful to ensure energy sources for socio-economic development towards low carbon development, contributing to helping Vietnam fulfill its commitments at COP26 on carbon neutralization and environmental protection.

The Republic of Korea (RoK)’s SK Group at the meeting

In addition, the project of producing clean hydrogen is suitable, contributing to the implementation of Resolution No. 59-NQ/TW dated August 5th, 2020 of the Politburo on the construction and development of Can Tho city by 2030, vision to 2045. Specifically, environmental protection, industrial development towards high technology application are essential parts of the Resolution.

In the coming time, if SK Group invests in developing renewable energy sources in the Mekong Delta to produce hydrogen, it will be a good opportunity for Can Tho city to become a Net Zero standard city and development of high-tech Industrial Park according to Net Zero/RE100 standard, said Chairman Tran Viet Truong.

the project proposal needs to be in line with the national gas and energy planning in the coming period, currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is tasked with advising the Prime Minister according to regulations. Can Tho city has requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade through a document to consider and add the master plan for LNG gas storage and hydrogen gas plant in O Mon district, with an expected scale of 150 hectares to the list of commercial petroleum, LPG and LNG warehouses expanded, newly built into the National Petroleum and Gas Reserve Infrastructure Development Plan for the period of 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050, Chairman Tran Viet Truong added.

To enhance investment cooperation opportunities, Chairman Tran Viet Truong assigned the Department of Planning and Investment to act as the focal point and related departments, and agencies to support and prepare more information about projects that SK Group is interested in such as the application of artificial meat production technology, and production of energy battery production. At the same time, Chairman Tran Viet Truong assigned the Department of Industry and Trade to discuss with the Ministry of Trade about promulgating a plan related to gas so that the hydrogen production project could soon be cooperated and implemented.