ScandAsia eMagazine December 2012

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Casper shows the hidden treasures of China

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CONTENTSCover stories

Swedish Prime Minister visits Indonesia Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeld’s recent trip to Indonesia

Hyper Island in Singapore Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeld’s recent trip to Indonesia

Casper shows the hidden treasures of China Danish/Norwegian Casper Tollerud, the owner of Genuine China Tours, shares parts of China that tourists do not normally see

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DECEMBER 2012

Interviews & Features

Friendship, freedom and trade Report from ASEM Meeting in Vientiane, Laos

Interview with the Danish Prime Minister

How do you celebrate Christmas in Asia? Seven prominent Scandinavians share their plans for Christmas this year

You can’t save the world but you can make a difference! Two Danish volunteers experience the lives of less fortunate people in Nongkhai














CONTENTSRegular columns Opinion Pages ............. 6Where ScandAsia’s writers share with the readers what they make of our world - big & small.

Coming Events ............ 7-9What’s up in the Scandinavian world accross Asia.

Past Events ............ 10-21Photos from Social Network, Parties, Golf,wherever the Scandinavians get together.

News Brief .................... 22-34Briefing on major news involving Denmark, Sweden, Norway or Finland in Asia that happened during the past month.
















DECEMBER 2012

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More good stuff! 44 Dr. Surapong on Thai-Sweden relations

45 Fact finding in Myanmar with TSCC

46 SEMCO agreement signals new stage for Vietnam oil and gas activities

48 Princess Marie meets Danish businessmen in Cambodia

49 Skiing 1000km in Thailand for charity

50 Hyper Island in Singapore

52 The future of sport marketing in China

54 Bright future for logistics business in China

56 Strengthening the Nordic business community

58 You can’t save the world but you can make a difference!

60 Irresistible Agneta

62 Design for change

64 Great food Great people

66 Promoting Norwegian Seafood in Asia

68 Jan Lund in the centre of Asia

70 Lieutenant – Colonel August Theodor Frederic Kools (1867 – 1911)

72 EAC Fund supports heritage preservation

73 A piece of Scandinavia in Singapore

74 AoNang Villas

76 Launch of Hogane – quality synthetic rattan furniture at affordable price

77 Sudoku & Rice Porridge (Risengrød)

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Opinion

I once carried out research in Al Samra, a big well-off village of mostly market traders, situated in the desert 40 kilometers from Khartoum, Sudan. One day I was invited or requested for lunch by the leadership, a group of three distinguished old men. We talked about how this community

dealt with social- and family problems. Then I asked them: “But what do you do in this land of pride and honor if a family simply have no money, no means to buy cloth and the most basic foodstuff for the children”. The chairman answered: “We will discuss the situation openly, only us three, no other people, men or women or even children present. If the reason is for example serious illness or very bad luck we will help. From time to time we collect tithe from the well-off families. Now we will take some of this money, put them in a small pocket of cotton, and in the middle of the night one of us will place the money under the door to the house in trouble and give a little push so that the cotton pocket will land well inside. Then, when the family find the money next morning, the pocket is received as a blessing from Allah our Lord”. I could only accept the explanation but promised myself to check on the reality of this custom around where my work took me. I then realized that it was in fact a general practice and that it worked in all closely knitted communities but not much in Khartoum.

Allah donated, period?Then you can leave the case face value if you wish: Allah donated, period, but: Shortly before my departure from Sudan the three stoic old men invited me for lunch again. There I confessed my controlling their secret ‘money under the door’ method. They laughed with their faces all wrinkles. Then they ‘confessed’ too. The earthly rationale behind the method is of course to avoid trouble and fighting in the community; if you have an overdog (the donator) and an underdog (the receiver) and the handover of money is taking place in public, “you sow the seeds of hatred in the receiver’s hart, the hatred of the debt of gratitude. Furthermore the risk is that you make a haughty character out of the donator. A person believing so much in his own goodness, that he cannot see his own faults”. In his book: ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ George Orwell put it this way: “A man receiving charity practically always hates his benefactor – it is a fixed characteristic of human nature…”

Handbooks for decent livingBoth in the Bible and in the Koran there are so many wise commandments regarding how to live a fruitful life in decency - if you have a wish so to do of course - and both books are using both carrot and stick in order to get us to act accordingly. Matthew 6.1.2. is saying that if you publish your good deeds in the Synagogue and in the street you have got your reward already and can expect nothing more from the Almighty. This said and quoted it is up to every one of us to decide how we want to handle our cross-cultural Giving here in Asia, not much doubt about the need. Cash transfer is quite easy, but for example transfer of technology and equipment cannot be done in anonymity, I suppose. I have seen this problem handled in Africa by engaging the excellent principle of joint venture aid.

May your God be with you.

Christmas – Charity“But when you give to the poor or the needy, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3).This instruction can be read both the Bible and in the Koran (about Zakat -tithe).

Flemming Winther Nielsen is Senior Lecturer (retired) DSH. DK. M.Sc.soc. (Aalborg University).

The author has working and research experience from the Sudan, Zambia, Portugal and Thailand.

See also: Winther, Flemming (1986): ‘ALLAH’S VEJ - og vores’. Odense Universitetsbibliotek.

ScandAsia is the only magazine that covers all the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish residents in Thailand.

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Daily news and features here:www.scandasia.com

ScandAsia is the only magazine that covers all the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish residents in China.

We also publish a ScandAsia magazine in Thailand, Singapore and the rest of South East Asia.

Your FREEScandAsia Magazine in China

Please sign up for your own FREE copy: www.scandasia.comPublisher : 211 Soi Prasert Manukit 29Prasert Manukit RoadChorakae Bua, Lad PraoBangkok 10230, ThailandTel. +66 2 943 7166-8, Fax: +66 2 943 7169 E-mail: [email protected]

Editor-in-Chief : Gregers A.W. Mø[email protected]

Assistant Editor:Wachiraporn [email protected]

Advertising : Finn Balslev [email protected]

Piyanan Kalikanon [email protected]

Nattapat [email protected]

Graphic Designer : Supphathada [email protected]

Distribution : Wanvisa [email protected]

Printing : Lake & Foundtain Printing Co., Ltd.

Daily news and features here:www.scandasia.com

Coming Events

Seminar on China’s fifth generation leadersDate: 12 December 2012Location: JW Marriot Hotel Tomorrow Square Shanghai 399 Nanjing West Road (Cnr. North Huangpi Road) Time: 11:30-13:30Price: Members: RMB250 Non-members: RMB400

Together with the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China is organising a seminar to help provide understanding of China’s fifth generation leaders and what they mean for your China business. W. John Hoffmann, co-founder & principal of Exceptional Resources Group (XRG) and co-founder of China Dialogues Network (CDN) will be the speaker at the event.For more information, visit www.swedishchamber.com.cn

Sanya International Boat ShowLocation: Serenity Marina, Sanya, ChinaDate: 14 – 17 December 2012

Sanya International Boat Show is taking place for four days in Sanya, China. It is a unique show which will encompass anything and everything related to boat and boating accessories. There are over 100 exhibitors participating. The show will feature luxury boats, sailboats, cruise boats, inflatable boats, and mega yachts and several other things related to boating. Also, it will showcase the latest innovations in the field of boating and latest boating technologies.For more information, contact +8689 8882 15893

The 10th HK Mega ShowcaseLocation: Hong Kong Convention & Exhibi-tion Centre (HKCEC) Hall 1Date: 23 – 26 December 2012

Here’s an event that Christmas shoppers should not miss! The HK Mega Showcase is an annual shoppers’ highlight event that attracts a large number of visitors every year. The 10th HK Mega Showcase covers five fantastic zones to meet all kinds of demands of visitors including Electrical Appliances & Do-mestic Products Expo, Hong Kong HOMEX, Motor Super X, Trendy Zone and Hong Kong Food Festival.For more information, contact +852 2591 9823

Emerging Leaders- a six Module Leadership programLocation: Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai New World ( 88 Nanjing Road (W) Shanghai / Hotel Tel: +86 21 6359 9999) Date: 28 January 2013

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China (SCCC) is organising the leadership development program together with the leading companies within talent management and people development.The goal is for par-ticipants to obtain the skills needed to work and lead effectively within an organization operating with both Chinese and Swedish influence. The focus is on Personal Leadership and one important end result of the program is a strong network. The course is targeting Chinese middle management leaders. There will be 3 full days of training, each day including 2 modules, coffee breaks and lunch. The first full day of training is on 28 January 2013, the next one is in February and the last one is in March. After completing at least 5 of the 6 modules the participants will receive a certificate issued by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China.For more information, visit www.swedishchamber.com.cn

Coming Events

Christmas Celebration at Norwegian Seamen’s Church in PattayaDate: 24 December 2012Location: Norwegian Seamen’s Church in Pattaya -162/50 Moo 10, Thappraya rd., Soi 7 Jomtien, Banglamung Chonburi 20260

Norwegian Seaman’s Church in Pattaya is holding Thailand’s biggest Norwegian Christmas celebration on December 24. Interested readers are suggested to make a reservation soon at [email protected] as seats are limited to 160 people. It’s THB 1,000 per person, THB 500 for children between 5 and 12, and free of charge for children under five years old. You can make the payment upon arrival. For more information, visit www.sjomannskirken.no/pattaya

Christmas Dinner with Nordmenn in Hua HinDate: 24 December 2012 at 7.00pmLocation: “Hua Hin Miss You” restaurant in soi 80

Nordmenn in Hua Hin is inviting its members to a Christmas Dinner at Hua Hin Miss You restaurant. A 650-baht ticket includes Christmas dinner, one beer or a glass of wine and a dessert. You can buy tickets at the restaurant. For binding reservations,contact [email protected]

Admundsen CupDate: 19 January 2012Location: Please check ScandAsia.com for updates

The Scandinavian Society Siam (SSS)’s golf tournament in 2013 will kick off with the traditional Dr. Amundsens Cup which again will be hosted by TetraPak. Interested people are suggested to check the upcoming event page on ScandAsia.com for updates. To sign up, visit www.zabaigolf.com

Sydictive Element Dance Music Festival 2012Date: 30 – 31 December 2012Location: Surin Beach, Phuket

The Sydictive Element Dance Music Festival 2012 in Phuket will bring excitement to Thailand’s dance music scene with international DJs line-up including Sky Blu from the popular electro-pop group LMFAO, Dash Berlin, Tiga and etc. According to the organiser, the festival will incorporate much of the latest technology integrated with explosive peaks for the ultimate theatrical shows synchronized directly with the ongoing sounds from the celebrity DJs. There will be two main stages at the nonstop 48-hour party event for party goers to enjoy two different ambiences in the same area; Mountain stage and Ocean stage. To meet different needs, there will be four separate zones for different types of tickets including General Admission zone, deluxe zone, VIP Island zone and private party zones with floating villas. A night market is located relatively close to the party beach offering variety of foods and activities for participants to enjoy. Interested people can book at a ticket at www.thaiticketmajor.com For more information, visit www.facebook.com/sydictiveelement

TSCC Monthly NetworkingDate: 10 January 2012Location: Huntsman’s Pub at the Landmark Bangkok

Sponsored by the University of Borås, the next Thai-Sweden Chamber of Commerce (TSCC) networking event will be held on January 10. It’s a good opportunity for participants to network, catch up on the latest news, and meet business associates and friends. It’s THB 500 per person for non-members who require an invitation from TSCC members. THB 100 per person for students/alumni. Participants can pay on arrival to the TSCC representatives at the Huntsman’s Pub. For more information, visit www.swecham.com

8 ScandAsia.eMag • December 2012

Coming Events

Thai Transience exhibitionDate: 26 October 2012 – 6 January 2013Location: Singapore Art Museum

The exhibition showcases paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, videos and performances by leading Thai artists. Inspiration behind these pieces are drawn from traditional artefacts and art objects from local museums and religious sites within Thailand, showing how Thai contemporary artists continue to create new expressions responding to their heritage and faith. A selection of these artefacts will be featured alongside new contemporary artworks in this exhibition. Thai Tran-sience is part of the Thai CulturalFest organised by the National Heritage Board.For more information, visit www.singaporeartmuseum.sg

NBAS’s Annual Seafood Dinner 2013Date: 8 March 2013Location: Raffles City Convention Centre, Fairmont BallroomFee: Member: SGD 3,000 Non-member: N/A

The annual Norwegian seafood dinner will be held for the Norwegian Business Association (Singapore) members in March 2013. It’s SGD 3,000 per person. Invitations will be sent out in January 2013.For more information, visit www.nbas.org.sg

PAssionArts Singing Festival Date: 3 November - 16 December 2012

From 3 November - 16 December 2012, there are mass sing-along sessions held at 15 locations across Singapore. Organ-ised by the Community Arts and Culture Clubs in various constituencies in Singapore, the singing festival features local ce-lebrities who are amongst residents to belt out songs after songs with participating residents. With a song list that includes some of the most popular songs from 1960s to current hit songs as our favourite Singapore songs, the PAssionArts Singing Festival 2012 will bring the joy of singing right into the heart of Singapore.For more information, visit www.passionarts.sg

Will you donatea bag of candy?Date: 17 December 2012

Swedish Women Education Association (SWEA) in Singapore is arranging a Christ-mas party for 200 homeless people in Singa-pore. SWEA will be in charge of the “fishing pond” (approximately 130 bags of candy), decorations and ‘santas little helpers’ figu-rines. SWEA’s members and 2 ‘santas help-ers’ will be present throughout the evening. If you would like to take part and make a child happy, you can donate a bag of candy which costs SGD 4 each. For more information, contact www.swea.org/singapore

Crazy Christmas 2012Date: 28 November – 9 December 2012Location: Esplanade Theatre

Starring Selena Tan, Adrian Pang, George Chan, Robin Goh, Karen Tan, Judee Tan, Michaela Therese, Vocaluptuous, Hossan Leong and Ku-mar, Crazy Christmas is an annual event featur-ing a big band and a bevy of dancing girls. This year’s Crazy Christmas features “Silver screen meets silver bells”. The event gets bigger and brighter than the previous years as the perform-ers include Singapore’s finest entertainers to-gether with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and good ole’ Charlie Chaplin, who will bring you song, dance, laughter and love. The duration is one hour and 30 minutes. For more information, contact www.esplanade.com

Movies under the North Star

Date: 29 December 2012 at 7.30pm – 9.30pm Location: Tampines North Tampines Street 43, between Blocks 481 and 482

It’s time to get romantic! Taking place ev-ery last Saturday of the month, the next ‘Movies under the North Stat’ will be held on December 29. Interested people can grab a picnic baskets & mats, take your date or family and head down to the cosy neighbourhood of Tampines North and enjoy a night out watching popular mov-ies under the Northern Star.For more information, visit www.whatshappenning.sg

December 2012 • ScandAsia.eMag 9

Past Events

On 22 September 2012, the big pool party was held for new students and young professionals at Mariner’s Club in Hong Kong, gathering over 120 international

participants from many countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Korea and Croatia. At the event, welcome drinks were served and people quickly started to chat with each other and making new friends. Names and numbers were exchanged around the tables in the pool area. Lunch buffet featured burgers, French fries and hotdogs, and even though the old saying warns that you shouldn’t swim right after eating, people jumped in the pool after they finished their food. Those who had been in Hong Kong for a while were surprised. One said that she hadn’t brought her bathing suit, because at all the pool parties she had ever been to in Hong Kong no one ever actually got in the pool. But the Danes and Swedes could not careless. They swam around and enjoyed cooling down from the warm weather, which most weren’t yet used to. Earlier it was the responsibility of the Danish General Consulate and the Danish Seamen’s Church to prepare these events, but after the Danish General Consulate was recently closed a new cooperation structure had to be made. Since the Danish and Swedish Chambers of Commerce were already planning similar events it seemed ideal to combine them. This is how this Scandinavian event came to be and it surely was a success.

Danish Georg Jensen hosted a private presentation for members of Danish Chamber of Commerce (DCC) in Hong Kong about the Exclusive Sterling Silver Ambas-

sador Collection that was being exhibited at the International Finance Centre (IFC Mall) on 12 October 2012. Surrounded by countless bowls, goblets, trays and pieces of cutlery, all made of solid silver and painstakingly made by hand in Copenhagen, the global ambassador Anne Mette Müller-Krogstrup presented the impressive collection and the history behind. Georg Jensen has been around since 1904. Through a presentation of the product timeline, Anne Mette Müller-Krogstrup brought the history to life as she spoke passionately about the craftsmanship of a brand where only exceptional quality is good enough.

Pool Party for YP and Students in Hong Kong

Georg Jensen gives presentation to members of DCC, Hong Kong

By Mette Hald Mikkelsen

Danish Silver Smith demonstrating techniques.


Danish Business Person and Entrepreneur of the Year 2012

Past Events

On 27 October 2012, the Danish Chamber of Commerce Shanghai (DCCC Shanghai) hosted the 6th Business Person of the Year

and Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 award ceremony and gale ball on behalf of the Danish Chambers in Beijing, Shanghai and China South. Dodo & the Dodo’s appeared for after dinner dance, playing both well-known hits and new material. Like every year, a winner of Business Person of the year and a winner of Entrepreneur of the year were chosen.

Winner of Business Person of the Year 2012: Steffen Schiottz-Christensen - NTS, Part of DAMCO and the A.P. Moller GroupSteffen has worked for the A.P. Moller Group 25 years, last 12 years in China. During Steffen’s time in China he has been responsible for DAMCO’s im-pressive expansion in the country, including being involved in establishing no less than seven success-ful joint ventures over the years, creating more than 2,000 new jobs. Steffen was directly responsible for the establishment of DAMCO Chengdu Customer Resource Center in December 2009 hiring more than 1,000 people within only 3 months. Recently he has been directly responsible for the A.P. Moller - Mares acquisition of NTS, a major airfreight provider with 1,000 employees and ranked number 5 in Chi-nese air freight. In 2011 Steffen received the Magnolia Award by the Shanghai Government, being only the third Dane ever to receive this prestigious award.Business Person of the Year finalists were: Peter Trampe, DEIF and Steen Teisen, Widex Hearing Aid (Shanghai) Ltd.

Winner of Entrepreneurof the Year 2012:Casper Tollerud - Genuine China ToursHaving lived in China for more than 10 years, Casper established his own travel agency Genuine China Tours in Xi’an in 2008, first focusing on delivering quality oriented travel experiences in China for for-eigners. Casper was the first foreigner ever to pass the exam as Tourism Manager at the Xi’an Tourism Academy. Casper’s business philosophy is to of-fer innovative experience to the visitors in terms of destinations and travel experience. Over the past 4 years, Genuine China Tours has shown a steady high growth in its business and has expanded the scope of the business, now also bringing Chinese tourist to Denmark.Entrepreneur of the Year’s finalists were: Erik Messerschmidt, The Danish Cultural Institute and Jesper Birk Andersen, Safe and Care Co. Ltd.

Finnish Minister discusses Economic Situation

On 1 November 2012, the Finnish Business Council in Shanghai

held a meeting with Mr. Jyri Häkämies, the Minister of Eco-nomic Affairs of Finland, to discuss the economic situation in Finland and the government measures to promote the inter-nationalization and export. Furthermore, Minister Häkämies shared some insights into the investment strategy of Finland and the Clean En-ergy program. Especially, he emphasized the need for en-trepreneurship, innovation and growth. He is confident that there are many opportunities for Finnish companies amidst the turmoil global economic situation. Finally, he elaborated the new concept of ‘Team Finland’. More than 30 par-ticipants enjoyed the insightful presentation and a discussion.

Past Events

Members of Nordic Chambers of Commerce in Thailand gath-ered at the Sheraton Grande Hotel, Bangkok for a breakfast seminar on Social Media Marketing on 16 October 2012.

The topic of this seminar was originally Online Marketing and E-commerce but was slightly changed to Social Media Marketing to better cover the intended content. Mr. Peter Bjork, Executive Director of the Thai-Swedish Cham-ber of Commerce, on behalf of all Nordic Chambers, warmly wel-comed all guests and the speaker of the day, Mr. Carl Heaton. Mr. Heaton is the founder of Web CoursesBangkok and a User Ex-perience (UX) consultant for the United Nations. He started the seminar by asking the attendees about their knowledge of online marketing, and the seminar continued with good energy and a vi-brant communication between the speaker and the attendees till the end. Mr. Heaton began the presentation by demonstrating the fast growing trend of the usage of social media compared to website media for marketing purposes. The fact that consumers tend to be influenced by gregarious instinct was also pointed out. Mr. Heaton said that “context is King”, rather than “content”, which is important for social media marketing. He also underlined the importance of being “open” and “friendly” and said that you have to know the specific goals and objectives. “Consistency” was also another key word of the day. You need to be constantly in touch with your target groups and engage them to share and recommend your products as much as possible.

Nordics gain knowledge on Social Media Marketing


Past Events

Danish supplier of climate control technology for farms Skov Asia invited members and friends of the Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce

(DanCham) to an Open House event at its new office on Sukhumvit 71 road in Bangkok on 25 October 2012. More than 30 members and friends gathered and were warmly welcomed by Mr. Thomas Orthaus Han-sen, Managing Director, SKOV ASIA LTD. The eve-ning started with a short presentation about the SKOV Company, which highlighted that SKOV has produc-tion departments in Thailand, China and Cambodia. Though SKOV believes in the importance of main-taining a solid home market where it has a full opera-tion in Denmark, it was well highlighted that 90 per-cent of turnover comes from the export markets. In 2012 SKOV A/S was nominated for “growth company of the year within agriculture and foods sector” (in Danish:”Årets Vækst Virksomhed inden-for Landbrug & Fødevarer”). SKOV A/S was ranked the top 4 and in celebration of this fine achievement, a short video presentation had been made and was shown to the participants at the event.

The Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce (Dan-Cham) arranged a small trip for its members and friends of the Chamber to visit Royal

Copenhagen’s production facilities in Saraburi on 26 October 2012. On arrival at Royal Copenhagen, participants were welcomed by the Managing Director, Mr. Mogen Han-sen, and the New Product Development Manager, Mr. John Frank Jørgensen. A short video presentation about the company was shown while participants enjoying cof-fee and cake served in Royal Copenhagen’s own collec-tions. The participants then were split into small groups, taking a tour in the production department and learn-ing to paint the popular products of Royal Copenha-gen, the Blue Fluted Mega, Thermal mug. Royal Copenhagen started their production in Thai-land in 2003 with only 10 artists and a couple of man-agement staff from Denmark. The plan was initially to only do decoration in Thailand. The company has now expanded to include over 350 employees in Thailand and today it not only creates the decoration on prod-ucts but also produces collections for Royal Copenha-gen which are then exported to Denmark, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. After the tour, participants were treated to lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant nearby. The prize for the winner of the most beautiful painting on the Blue Flut-ed Mega, Thermal mug, at the workshop went to Ms. Annelies Haverkamp from Novo Nordisk. The prize was a beautiful Blue Fluted MegaOval Dish (Fish dish).

Danish SKOV held open house for DanCham’s members

Field trip to Royal Copenhagen Thailand

By Savija Pannark Korslund

By Savija Pannark Korslund


On 24 October 2012, the Thai-Swedish Cham-ber of Commerce organized a Business Intel-ligence (BI) seminar at Oakwood Residence

in Bangkok. The main speaker at the event was Mr. Filip Ekstrand from the Swedish firm Advince. Mr. Ekstrand is a BI expert with 25 years of management consulting experience, mostly for multinational firms and Private Equity houses. The seminar started with an introduction by Håkan Arm, board member of the chamber. Mr. Ekstrand then shared some of his BI experience from multina-tional firms. Mr. Ekstrand espoused definitions of BI from different points of view and deliberated on how to harness the power of BI, as well as how to avoid potential pitfalls. Mr. Ekstrand said that well-designed, user-friendly BI applications can deliver a competitive advantage. Hence, it is imperative that BI initiatives need to start with business objectives and target the most important and relevant business issues. Mr. Ekstrand explained that the objectives and targeted issues must align with company strategy and that managers must continuously test. In addition, in order to avoid failing in BI, he emphasized that one should not try to design a company’s BI packages as “The Mother of All Systems”. The Seminar ended with a Q&A section which was full of interesting questions from participants. Sponsored by Oakwood Residence, wine, beer and soft drinks were available for guests to enjoy.

All the ladies from the association Nordmenn i Hua Hin got an invitation for the Ladylunch on 20 October 2012, where they had to sign up

for the day. The trip was a surprise, so nobody knew where they were going. 20 ladies met at the Hua Hin train station at noon and got picked up by minivans and were taken up north to Hua Hin Soi 6 and continued up to the moun-tains. Little did these women know, as the trip was a surprise, they were heading for Korsor Resort and Spa. Korsor is a tranquil and majestic place featuring a dam which is surrounded by cozy huts. The ladies enjoyed lovely Thai food specially prepared for them. With such a serene ambiance, the ladies chatted and laughed with each other while relaxing in this gorgeous location. After a day of renewed friendship and fellowship, the ladies had a tasty ice cream treat, which was the perfect finish to a remarkable day that they seemed to enjoy themselves.

Swedes gain insight on Business Intelligence

Norwegian ladies lunch trip

By Puri Yuki

Past Events


Swedes gain insight on Business Intelligence

Past Events

The Nordic Young Professionals (NYP) Entrepre-neurial Night & Mini Speed Networking event was held at the TenFace Boutique Hotel in

Bangkok on 2 November 2012. The evening was a great success which was marked with a large number of enthusiastic participants includ-ing a mix of NYPs, Thais and other nationalities. At the event, free beer from Carlsberg was available for guests to enjoy. Delicious appetizers and impressive buffet were sponsored by Tenface. On the evening, two speakers were invited to give a speech about their experiences in entrepreneurship; Mr. Steve Cheah and Mr. Jakob Lykkegaard Pedersen.Mr. Steve Cheah, the host of Global Entrepreneurship in Thailand (GEW), spoke about how the organiza-tion aims at promoting and inspiring entrepreneurship. Mr. Jakob Lykkegaard Pedersen, who is an innovative young Danish entrepreneur, then gave his opinion on different opportunities and pitfalls when building up and developing a business. In return for their contribu-tions, both speakers received dining vouchers at the Italian restaurant JoJo, sponsored by St. Regis. Approximately 100 participants then joined the mini speed networking. After that, a lucky draw took place where lucky winners went home with gifts spon-sored by Admirals Pub & Restaurant, Hotel Mermaid, Culture One, gFour Wines, Impressions, Phothalai Lei-sure Park, Italasia, ScandAsia, Stoli and TenFace. Among those attending the event were the NYP committee members including Ms. Caroline Vamnes, Ms. Ditte Rosenquist, Ms. Jiraya Chanchon, Mr. Johan Davidsson and Ms. Rose Jensen.

For more information, check out www.dancham.or.th/and Facebook page and www.facebook.com/NYPThailand

The Swedish Golf Day, held at The Vintage Club in Bangkok on 10 November 2012, was a huge success as over 50 players turning up for the

tournament. The main sponsors included Nordea, Volvo, Oak-wood, SAS, Capaciton, and the Thai Swedish Chamber of Commerce. The A-group was won by Kristian Wensell, fol-lowed by Amstein Rustberggard. The B-Group was won by Fredrik Bergman followed by Christer Holm-vall and the C-group was won by Helena Ahola. For the 2-man best ball, the winner was the team consisting of Erik Dahlstrom and Fredrik Widell. Next competition is the SSS tournament which will be held at Subhapruek Golf Club on the 8 Decem-ber 2012, which is the final one in 2012.

One speedy night in Bangkok

Successful Swedish Golf Day

By Rose Jensen


By Sippachai Kunnuwong

Yet again it was time for Swedes to gather at their usual venue Huntsman’s Pub at the Landmark

Bangkok on 4 October 2012. This time, approximately 30 members and Thai friends participated in the networking evening. Many Master’s Degree students from Sweden were amongst the attendants this evening. The event was sponsored by Swed-ish Scania, an international company with a presence in more than 100 countries. Scania started in Thailand with trucks in 1986 and busses in 1987 via an importer called Forefront (Thailand) Co., Ltd. In 2000, Scania established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Thailand. Khun Vichai Jirathiyut, the Managing Director of Scania, gave a short presen-tation about the company and thanked all participants for joining the event. After the speech from Khun Vichai, participants enjoyed eating their Swedish dish ‘Pyttipanna’.

Swedes monthly gathering at Huntsman PubPast Events

Successful Norwegian Gala Dinner in Malaysia

Hosted by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, the annual Norwegian Seafood Gala Dinner in Malaysia was

held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on 12 October 2012. Showcasing some of the best of Norwegian seafood, the event was a huge success with approximately 650 participants turning up. Head chef Frank Næsheim from Snorre-food and his team made a spectacular buf-fet with a mix of Asian and Norwegian hot and cold dishes. To make the experience as genuine as possible, all the seafood was air flown from Norway to Kuala Lumpur for the event. The evening had a Malaysian twist this year with entertainment from singer Adibah Noor for the 650 guests to enjoy. Among the attendees were guest of honor Petro-nas, the Nordic Ambassadors and several Norwegian companies with their guests. The 6th Innovation Award, given by The Malaysian Norwegian Business Coun-cil (MNBC), was awarded to Det Norske Veritas for their distinctiveness within sus-tainability, innovation and responsibility. An-other highlight of the event was the charity draw, sponsored by Star Cruise, where one lucky winner got a cruise ticket to Phuket in Thailand.


Past Events

Swedish Crayfish Party Jakarta Style

PNBC focuses on CSR at its networking luncheon

On 3 November 2012, the Nordic Club of Jakarta hosted their annual charity Crayfish Party in the Grand Ballroom at the Mandarin

Oriental Hotel. Offering plenty of imported crayfish and schnapps, the event gathered over 270 guests from the Jakarta expat and business community. The evening kicked off with a welcome from the Nordic Club Jakarta President, Melissa Holck and was followed by traditional songs and toasts amongst the lively guests. The excitement soon lead to the dance floor where guests were entertained by live music per-formed by GanJil and latest club remixes spun by the DJ Jiponk. Guests much enjoyed themselves that the party went on until the early morning hours of the next day. Platinum sponsors included Asian Tigers Mobility, Equil, Griya Villas & Spa Bali, Indosat, KLM Airlines, Man-nekepis Restaurant, Now!Jakarta, Santai Bali Hotel, Ship-co Transport and Waterbom. VIP Sponsors included Ericsson, Maersk, Q-Free, Tetra Pak and Watsila. All sponsors’ contributions and profits from the event went to the charity work carried out by Nordic Club Jakarta and its devoted volunteers, who dedicate themselves to making a positive difference in lives of less fortunate people in Jakarta.

On 27 September 2012, the Philippines Norway Business Council (PNBC) held its regular networking luncheon at “I’m Angus Steak-

house” in Yakal Street, Makati City in the presence of Norwegian Ambassador Knut Solem and Counselor Knut-Are Okstad. 38 members and guests of PNBC gathered at the event, which focused on Corporate Social Responsi-bility (CSR) this time. CSR Working group Head and VP for External Affairs Rodolfo “Ozone” Azanza, Jr. of SN Power Phil-ippines introduced the three speakers, highlighting that all three will be talking about education as key in stop-ping the vicious cycle of poverty in the Philippines, a concept subscribed to in full by PNBC itself. The first speaker was Erlend Johanessen, the young Norwegian founder of Streetlight, an NGO that provides care and educational support to children in Tacloban City. PNBC President Ivar Thomasli of TSM handed a cheque from the Council to support Street-light’s programs. The next 2 speakers discussed the Department of Education’s TEN Moves (The Entire Nation Moves) Program. DepEd Assistant Secretary Jess Mateo gave an overview of the nationwide campaign to address the massive shortage of classrooms. Mr. Mario Deriquito of the Ayala Foundation then explained how individuals can participate by setting aside 10 Pesos for 10 months to support a vision of building 10,000 classrooms nationwide. Corporations can also make a pledge through www.tenmoves.org/make-your-pledge/ To know more about how you can support streetlight, visit www.streetlight.org/


Past Events

First Biogas seminar in Hanoi

Denmark supports photo exhibition in Vietnam

On 12 November 2012, the first Biogas Seminar x3 with the topic “Turning Organic Waste into Valuable Energy” was hosted by

the CENTEC and The Trade Section of the Swedish Embassy in Hanoi. Swedish Ambassador Camilla Mellander wel-comed the participants and pointed out that biogas is one of the areas where there is a huge possibility of fruitful cooperation between Sweden and Vietnam. Sweden is a leader in biogas and Vietnam has a great potential for developing its biogas production. Swe-den has been able to sustain healthy economic growth while at the same time reducing its carbon dioxide emissions. And biogas has been a part of this success, she said. The seminar series is a collaboration between the Swedish Embassy in Hanoi and Swedish CENTEC Vietnam, where it took place in Hanoi, Thai Binh and Dong Nai during the course of the week. A delegation from Sweden with approximately 20 representatives from companies, financial and research institutions as well as cluster organisations participated in the semi-nars. There has been large interest from the Vietnam-ese side with representatives from ministries, local authorities and private companies. In addition to the seminars, the delegation conducted field visits to dif-ferent biogas production sites in Vietnam.

On 10 November 2012, Danish Ambassador John Nielsen opened the photo exhibition “My Culture – Conversation in Open Spaces”.

The exhibition displays photos taken by ethnic minor-ity people describing their local cultural activities and traditions. Organised by the Vietnamese NGO, the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE), the photo project aims at displaying ethnic mi-nority cultures to the general public, thereby fostering a greater understanding and inclusion of minorities in the Vietnamese society. In the opening speech, the Ambassador empha-sised the importance of human rights and inclusion of ethnic minorities; “Ethnic minorities and other social vulnerable groups are always the target groups in Dan-ish development cooperation programs. We believe that the ethnic minorities and other social vulnerable groups are an integral part of the society and they have every right to enjoy part of the prosperity and welfare that Vietnam has achieved during the past years.” The exhibition displays 143 photos taken by mi-nority groups all around Vietnam. Not only has the role of the individuals holding the cameras been em-phasised in the process but also the involvement of the community in discussing the beauty of their ethnic cultures. The project has thus strengthened the local ethnic minority cultures and helped secure ethnic di-versity in Vietnam for the future.

Ambassador John Nielsen, together with a representative from the ethnic minorities officially opening the exhibition. (Embassy of Denmark, Vietnam)


Past Events

On 13 October 2012, approximately 140 Scandinavians in Singapore gathered at the Danish Seaman’s Church to enjoy

the performance by Danish Folk rock musician and singer-songwriter Allan Olsen. The evening featured good food, cozy atmo-sphere around a delicious Greek buffet. Alone on the stage with his guitar, Allan Olsen took the audience on a journey back to Denmark (perhaps mainly the Jutland part that most Danes know so well). It was a nice warm evening where participants enjoyed good food and good music in a relaxing atmosphere.

KU DÉ TA has lifted up the profile of ladies night in Singapore to a whole new level with their Diamond Life theme event on 19

September 2012. KU DÉ TA is where some of the most glam-orous events are held. Its club lounge is all about luxury, high fashion, lifestyle and glamour. Ladies night takes place here every Wednesday. However, it was extra special on Wednesday 19 November where Danish Georg Jensen took part and invited approximately 100 VIPs of its own existing clients to this exclusive event. The ladies were treated to a night of free flow Lychee Martinis in a private VIP area of KU DÉ TA and had the chance to take home an iconic Vivianna Oval diamond watch – the lucky winner was Ms. Peiyi Nguee.

Allan Olsen performs atDanish Church in Singapore

Ladies Night with Georg Jensen


It was wonderful to see how many found their way to the Danish Christmas Bazaar at the Danish

Seamen’s Church on 24 November 2012. Danish families and friends gathered to celebrate Christmas in a traditional Danish Christmas style together. Danish food and various activities were available for partici-pants to enjoy. Over two days more than 1,500 visitors showed up. Thanks to the many visitors and more than 50 dedicated volunteers, this year’s ba-zaar was a great success and another milestone was reached.

Danish Christmas BazaarPast Events


Mr. Ingemar Dolfe, the Swedish ambassador to Singapore, has re-cently hosted a BBQ-evening at the Swedish Residence for over 100 Singaporeans who are former exchange students to Sweden.

During the BBQ-evening, the enthusiastic students shared their positive experiences from their stay in Sweden. The ambassador pointed out that Singaporean students’ knowledge and relationship to Sweden contribute to strengthening the close ties between the two countries. The ambassador also informed the students that the Embassy recently created a database for Sweden Alumni called ‘Swedish Alumni Database Singapore’. The database provides an opportunity for Singaporean students studying in Sweden, including past and future, to maintain a close link to Sweden. The purpose of the database is to create a network for Swedish Alumni in Singapore. Every year close to 400 Singaporeans go to different universities all over Sweden on exchange programs to study various subjects, ranging from medicine to business. Sweden is, after UK, the most popular destination in Europe for Singa-porean exchange students. The Embassy also provided the students with information about Swedish companies operating in Singapore, employing more than 7,000 people. The students showed a great interest in the pres-ence of Swedish companies in Singapore.

The Norwegian Business Association in Singapore invited Norwe-gian Ambassador to Singapore H.E. Tormod C. Endresen to their Luncheon on 8 November 2012 at Raffles Hotel, East India Room.

The ambassador held an interesting talk on the topic “China under new leadership – choices and consequences”. The Luncheon gathered 75 guests, the highest recorded number of attendees. Prior to his post in Singapore, Mr. Endressen was Consul General in Guangzhou, China. Previously, he served at Norway’s Mission to the United Nations in New York, in the Foreign Minister’s Secretariat and as Deputy Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo. A lawyer by education, he has also worked at Wiersholm law firm in Oslo.

Student reception at the Swedish residence

Norwegian ambassador talks on ‘China under new leadership’

Past Events


News Brief

Mr. Gunnar Oom, the Swedish State Secretary for Trade, paid an of-ficial visit to China and Mongolia on 2-6 November. The focus of his visit was on mining industry.

On the day he arrived –2 November, he attended the inauguration of the Innovative Sweden Exhibition at Tongji University in Shanghai. The following day, Mr. Oom attended a seminar in Ulaanbaatar, Mongo-lia, on the topic of “Innovative Efficient and Safe Mining” where he made an opening speech. On 4 November, he attended bilateral meetings with the Mongolian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Gankhuyag and the Minister of Construction and Urban Development, Ms. Baigalmaa. After that he visited the Boroo gold mine. Mr. Oom was back in China on 5 November to attend the “China Mining Conference and Exhibition 2012” in Tianjin, where mining ministers, directors, representatives from world leading mining companies and financial experts discussed global mining development trends and strategies. Mr. Oom then opened a seminar on Swedish mining solutions “Innovative Efficient and Safe Mining – Solutions from Leading Swedish Mining Companies”.

Finland’s leading Atomic Layer Deposition equipment manufacturer ‘Pico-sun’ joins the new China-Finland Nano Innovation Center in China which opened on 2 November.

The honorable guests at the launching event included H.E. Mr. Wan Gang, China’s Minister of Science and Technology, and H.E. Mr. Jyri Häkämies, Fin-land’s Minister of Economic Affairs. The center is located in Jiangsu Province and was a product of a joint collaboration between Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China and Ministry of Employment and the Economy (TEM) of Finland. “Picosun is the first Finnish company to enter the Nano Innovation Cen-ter. The Center will be a window for China’s fast growing ALD community to access the most advanced ALD technology which will further strengthen Picosun’s technology leadership,” says Dr. Wei-Min Li, Applications Director of Picosun and CEO of Picosun Asia Pte. Ltd. Picosun Oy is a Finland-based, worldwide operating manufacturer of state-of-the-art ALD systems. The ALD reactor design and manufacturing pioneer has been running for four decades. Its global headquarters are located in Espoo, Finland.

Swedish State Secretary’s visit to China

Picosun the first Finnish company joins China-Finland Nano Innovation Center

Swedish companies to invest over USD 200 million in Taiwan

Four Swedish companies will invest more than USD 200 million in Tai-wan over the next three years, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday 26 October.

According to the Ministry’s statement, the companies are industrial tool and equipment maker Atlas Copco, mobile telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson, SCA Hygiene Products and Siemens Industrial Turboma-chinery. The reports were achieved by a Northern Europe Investment Promo-tion Mission headed by Vice Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao who visited Finland and Sweden on 20-28 October as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to boost investment from overseas. Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) reports that the Ministry has also organised for another trade promotion mission to visit Central and Eastern Europe on 27 October to 11 November.


The Trade Council in China arranged a promotion trip for the six Danish companies COWI, AVK, Novozymes, Grundfos, Halse and Haldor Topsoe to Zhejiang from 12 to 14 November 2012.

The Danish ambassador to China, Mr. Friis Arne Petersen, participated in the trip that started off with a meeting with the Vice Governor of Zhejiang province, Mr. Mao Guanglie on the 12th.According to the Chinese government’s 12th Five Year Plan, the fu-ture Chinese economic development will have a focus on sustainable growth and prioritisation of energy optimization. Zhejiang is one of the richest and most developed provinces in China and is expected to take a leading role in the Chinese transition to a greener economy. “The Danish companies here today represent state of the art tech-nologies in the fields of energy and environment. It is my wish that the Danish companies will contribute to the green economic miracle of Zhejiang province also in the future”, Ambassador Petersen said at the opening of the seminar on the 13th. At the seminar, where the Zhejiang government participated, the Danish companies presented their views on how to create a sustain-able production through a focus on energy production and energy efficient industries. It was followed by a presentation on sustainable urbanisation with a focus on district energy, building energy efficiency and water infrastructure. On the 14th, Ningbo-Denmark Clean-Tech Match Making seminar took place. The seminar focused on the latest development strategies, plans and policies towards energy efficiency and environmental protec-tion in Ningbo in order to meet local business partners and identify new business opportunities. Danish and Chinese companies partici-pated as well as the Ningbo municipal government. The seminars promoted Danish clean and green technologies as well as established network with the Ningbo and the Zhejiang govern-ment which set ground for further collaboration in the future.

China opens forDanish ‘green’ companies

Ambassador Petersen (left) and Vice Governor Mao exchanging gifts

On 11 November 2012, the Norwegian choir Cantus from Trond-heim won the award for best female choir during “The 1st Xinghai Prize International Choir Championship” in Guangzhou.

The competition is a so-called ‘Champions Competition’ or a world championship for choirs if you will. The Norwegian conductor, Tove Ramlo-Ystad, was impressed by the high level of all participants as well as very pleased with her choir’s near optimal performance. Members of the jury also praised the Norwegian singers, saying their performance was “great art”. As Cantus was proclaimed the winner, the 30 members entered the stage in Norwegian national costumes, accompanied by the sound of Nor-way’s national anthem and a cheering audience. “This is the first time the national anthem has been played for us after win-ning a competition. It was a great feeling entering the stage in the national costumes, and we truly felt that we represented Norway”, says Ramlo-Ystad.

Norwegian choir wins international competition in Guangzhou


News Brief

Friis Arne Petersen, the Danish Ambassador to China, has expressed his delight with the relationship between China and Denmark. Here is what the Danish ambassador said to China Daily in the end

of October:Denmark has been very fortunate to have very close, high level coopera-tion with China. The last two or three months we’ve had both your presi-dent and a very prominent, high level Chinese delegation in Denmark on a state visit to meet our queen, prime minister and our whole government. We’ve signed a lot of deals. We had our prime minister here a few weeks ago to meet again with the Chinese leaders. We are very impressed by the fact that we can cooperate continuous-ly with the Chinese leaders while they are still undergoing such important changes. I think what we expect to come out of this is increased continuity, stability. And I think that is actually what the world needs in these years to decrease volatility and uncertainty in order to try to improve the economic conditions for world economy, for countries like China, like Denmark. The more predictable, the more stable, I think, the easier it is for our countries to overcome the economic challenges.

On 31 October 2012, Greenlandic Minister for Industry and Mineral Resources Mr. Ove Karl Berthelsen together with Consul General in Shanghai Mr. Karsten Ankjær Jensen met with representatives from

leather and fur companies from Haining and Zhejiang. The meeting was held in order to share knowledge and ideas on the future collaboration between Greenland and China on fur and leather trade. The pos-sibilities of Greenlandic export of fur and leather to China was discussed in the meeting. “We had a very productive meeting, which I think for everyone present underlined the great potential of increasing collaboration and trade between Greenland and China in the fur market,” said the Consul General. “My hope is that this meeting will form the basis of a stronger relationship between China and Greenland and make way for increased trading between the two countries.” The Minister also visited the Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries and the Danish Innovation Centre in Shanghai while he was in Shanghai.

Danish Ambassador is pleased with China-Denmark relationship

Greenlandic Minister meets Chinese leather and fur companies

China’s largest science and technology park to open in Finland

ZPark Software Park, China’s largest science park is coming to Es-poo, in Finland. According to Marko Vanska, CEO of China-Finland Golden Bridge, the aim of the new ZPark Software Park is to help

Chinese companies establish business, research cooperation and develop-ment units in Finland as well as recruit Finnish experts. The planned ZPark Software Park will be located in Otaniemi, and in-cludes ICT and other technology sectors. It is established with the help of Zhongguancun ZPark Software Park in Beijing, the FinChi Innovation Center which is managed by Finpro, and China-Finland Golden Bridge. The parties have signed a memorandum of understanding concerning cooperation. “Finland’s geographical location makes it a gateway for companies enter-ing the Nordic, Russian and even the whole European market,” said Fang Zhou Chairperson of Zhongguancun ZPark Software Park. As for the Finnish government, the cooperation is a means allowing Finnish companies to better and more rapidly utilize the opportunities for commercial and technology cooperation that exist in the Beijing region, ex-plains Kari Häyrinen, President and CEO of Finpro.


Norway is to contribute a USD850,000 technical assistance grant in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank to help update Myanmar’s 30-year-old electricity law as part of

initial steps towards meeting the nation’s expanding power needs, re-ports the Myanmar Times. Norway’s foreign affairs minister, Mr Espen Barth Eide, said recently during his third visit to the country that the grant would help bring the country’s law up to international standards. The minister made the remarks when discussing the Myanmar Tourism Master Plan at the Myanmar Tourism Federation office in Yangon on 5 November 2012. “Development cannot be achieved without access to electricity. Having an updated electricity law, putting it into practice and conduct-ing initial capacity building on the principles of electricity regulation are essential for the development of Myanmar’s power sector, and an im-portant contribution to the development of Myanmar’s economy and the welfare of its people,” he told participants. The drafting of the legislation and related rules and regulations will be carried out by the Ministry of Electric Power in conjunction with other government departments, the private sector, civil society, parlia-mentarians, and development partners, with completion targeted for June 2014. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Norwegian grant will be used to help update Myanmar’s 1984 electricity law.

Mr. Arnt Holte was elected as President of the World Blind Union (WBU) on the first day of the WBUs 8th General Assembly in Bangkok on 12 November 2012.

Having worked as First Vice President of the WBU since 2008, he is now a leader for 285 million blind and partially sighted people worldwide. “I feel first of all humility, but fighting spirit,” says the recently inaugurated presi-dent of the WBU. The Norwegian embassy in Bangkok hosted a reception to congratulate Mr. Holte on his election. Arnt Holte is 53 years old, originally from Trondheim, but lives in Oslo. Arnt has been blind all his life. He has worked for the Norwegian Association of the Blind since 2002, first as head of the International Department, and from 2006 also as Assistant Secretary General. He was also an employee of the Blind from 1983 to 1994. WBU was founded in 1984, representing 285 million blind and partially sighted persons in 190 member countries and is “the blinds’ vote” against governments and international bodies.

Norway to fund Myanmar’s expanding power needs

Norwegian elected as President of the World Blind Union

Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Denmark’s Prime Min-ister Helle Thorning-Schmidt opened a joint diplomatic office in Yangon on 4 November 2012 to strengthen diplomatic presence.

Stoltenberg was quoted as saying that Norwegian companies can now invest in Myanmar as the economic sanctions against Myanmar have been lifted, while Myanmar Minister at the President’s Office U Aung Min said the friendship between Myanmar and Norway would flourish in all sectors, reports New Light of Myanmar. Schmidt said that the establishment of the Danish Embassy in Yangon will open a new chapter between Myanmar and Denmark to strengthen bilateral friendship, while U Aung Min expressed hope that the Myanmar-Denmark friendship would develop in all sectors. The two prime ministers traveled to Nay Pyi Taw and separately met Aung San Suu Kyi, chairperson of the Committee for Rule of Law and Tran-quility of the House of Representatives (Lower House) and leader of the National League for Democracy. Myanmar’s President U Thein Sein and Speaker of the Lower House U Shwe Mann had also met Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg in the new capital on 3 November 2012, a day before U Thein Sein headed for Asia-Europe Meeting in Laos on 4 November 2012.

Norway and Denmark establish diplomatic mission in Myanmar

News Brief


News Brief

Norwegian Aibel has decided to move the construction of the biggest module of their Troll A project from their yard in

Norway to their yard in Thailand. The 4,500 ton module represents 2,000 full-time equivalents and is part of a 2.7 billion NOK contract with Statoil to upgrade their Troll A platform with three new modules with a total weight of 6.800 ton. It was Aibel’s intension to build all three mod-ules in Norway and have the steelwork delivered from subcontractors in Poland. The decision to

The 16th Manhunt International male beauty pageant was held in Bangkok on 9 No-vember 2012. The 29-year-old Philippines’

representative, June Macasaet, was crowned the winner. Sweden’s Peter Bo Jonsson has won the sec-ond place and a representative from Denmark was named Mr. Friendship. Macau’s Martin Wang placed 2nd runner-up while Puerto Rico’s Jimmy Perez placed 3rd runner-up and Singapore’s Jason Chee placed 4th runner-up respectively. According to Globalbeauties.com, Macasaet’s victory over crowd-favorite Jonsson was a tight one - only 1 point separated the winner from the 1st runner-up. An engineering student of Uppsala University, Jonsson had stated in an interview that he would focus completely on studying if he did not win the title. “I’m writing my master thesis in engineering right now so I’m planning to get a technical mas-ter grade and a bachelor grade in economics next year,” said Jonsson. Special awards were also handed out for

Swede 1st runner-up at Manhunt International 2012 in Bangkok

Aibel moving 2,000 FTEs to Thailand

Best in National Costume (Hongkong), Face of the Year (Puerto Rico), Best Runway (Latvia), Urban Male Award (Philippines’ June Macasaet), Best Physique (Macau), Mr. Personality (Baha-mas), Mr. Photogenic (India) and the two fast-track-to-Top-15-honors of Mr. Internet Popular-

ity won by Singapore and Mr. Friendship taken by Denmark. Said to be the first male model contest in Sin-gapore when it started in 1987, Manhunt became international in 1993, when contestants from 25 countries joined the competition.

move the construction is due to full order books at Aibel’s Polish subcontractors. Aibel’s yard in Laem Chabang proved their ability to deliver the right quality at the right time, when they delivered two major modules with a combined weight of 6,500 ton to Aibel’s Gudrun project in October this year, says shipyard direc-tor Bjørn Tollefsen. “Although we are moving construction work to Thai-land, it is fully up to be done by the yard in Haugesund.” He is supported by Momir Repaja, head of

the engineers club at Aibel. “We had not consented to the transfer of the construction of the Troll module to Thailand if it had cost Norwegian jobs.” He adds that the model for division of labour between Thailand and Norway on the Gudrun project worked well. “By dividing the task be-tween our two yards, we utilize the capacity of both yards during busy times.” The Troll A plat-form produces gas worth 250 million NOK a day, making in Norways main money machine.


Thai Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsap has encouraged Thai la-bours to work in the Scandinavian countries during their berry harvest-ing season, assuring approximately 100,000 baht monthly income.

Padermchai has disclosed Labour Ministry’s annual performance in which sending Thai labours to work abroad has become one of the Ministry’s main strategies. According to the Minister, 60,000 Thais are registered to be working as berry-pickers in the Scandinavian countries. “In Sweden, Thai labours are being sought-after because they are hard-working and honest. Thus, we should continue to expand the rela-tionship and job opportunities in the country,” says the Minister. The Minister also stated that the Ministry’s strict regulations to pre-vent unfair treatment from recruitment agencies will assure Thai labours that they will be looked after.

The Embassy of Finland in Thailand has granted funds to six local organ-isations in total of 188,000 euros to help develop the projects concern-ing human rights advocacy and peace and reconciliation processes.

Fund for local cooperation (FLC) is a mean for diplomatic missions carry-ing out development cooperation to promote activities of local civil society, stated in a press release. Eligible partners for FLC are for example local non-governmental organ-isations, universities and other educational and research institutions, inde-pendent media, foundations and religious communities. This year, altogether 23 interesting project proposals from Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar were sent to the Embassy but only 6 proposals were selected. Most of the projects being granted are responded by the cur-rent strategy of funds for local cooperation (FLC). The programme supports two projects in each country.

Thailand encourages its labour to pick berries in Scandinavia

Finnish Embassy granted funds for local cooperation

Government agencies in three southern border provinces organized ‘One Voice to End Violence against Women and Children’ campaign at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani campus, on 17-18 November

2012. Funded by the Embassy of Finland, European Union and other govern-ment agencies, the 2-day campaign was aimed at highlighting the impor-tance of the upcoming International Day for the Elimination of Violence

Finnish Embassy supports a campaign to fight violence

News Brief

against Women on November 25, reports Manager.co.th. More than 600 participants attended a variety of activities on both dates, with the highlights, ‘Women are the driving force behind the development of a sustainable peace processes’ discussion, and “Women give voice to end violence and discrimination in areas of southern frontier’ seminar. Women Strive for Peace’ group also submitted proposals and sugges-tions on the violence-against-women plight to the government.


Filipino and Thai workers “invade” Greenland

Foreign workers have become a major issue in Greenland. Latest example is the numbers of Philippines and Thais cleaning, cooking

and serving in the hospitality business. Since 1 January 2011, 81 Philippines and 39 Thais have been granted work permits in Green-land. The number may seem small but being a nation with only 57,000 inhabitants and an unem-

“The number draws attention because of the high unemployment rate among unskilled Green-landers,” says Jess G. Berthelsen, chairman of the Greenland Workers Union (SIK). According to SIK, the Philippines and Thais wages are in line with SIK’s minimum wages but they work six or seven days a week and with shifting working hours without compensation.

Smear campaignPartner of Hotel Hans Egede Carl Juhl warns against what he calls a ‘smear campaign’ against Asian working in Greenland. He fears his employ-ees can be victims of persecution and harassment. “Please show me one hotel anywhere in the world without Asians employees. This is not a special Greenland phenomena, Asians work in hotels everywhere,” Says Carl Juhl.

No lack of good labourAt the west coast of Greenland the likewise four-star hotel Actic has chosen another approach to solve their need for employees. If they can’t find locals with the needed skills they train them themselves. “We have decided to invest in the local labour force,” tells managing director Erik Bjer-regaard. He doesn’t comment on how other Hotels run their businesses, but pinpoints that Hotel Ac-tic has no problem finding good local labour.

ployment rate at eight percent, the employment of Asians in hotels and restaurants has raised at-tention.

60 percent AsiansAt the four-star luxury hotel Hans Egede, the larg-est private-owned hotel in the capital Nuuk, sixty percent of the staff in house-keeping are Asians.

News Brief

On 7 November 2012, Norwegian ambassador to Malaysia Hans Ola Urstad met with Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang, the president of Malay Dewan Negara, at the president’s office in the Parliament building. The ambassador said they

discussed many issues, including trade and ways to further enhance the good relations between Oslo and Kuala Lumpur. The ambassador told reporters, after the meeting, that Malaysians should seek busi-ness opportunities in various sectors in Scandinavia. He said Malaysian lawmakers should also visit Norway to enhance relationship between the two countries.“I am honoured to meet the President of Dewan Negara and invited him and other Malaysian parliamentarians to visit Norway, with a view to enhance our bilateral ties,” he said.

Ambassador promotes business relationship between Norway and Malaysia

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to close an em-bassy in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and a consulate in Australia’s largest city Sydney. The cuts

will save around 450,000 euros. According to Yle News, the ministry based the deci-sion on the reduced need for Finnish representation in the Philippines. As resources are not increasing, diplomats are to focus more on locations with a greater economic or political significance for Finland. The embassy in Manila will become a consulate staffed by a locally-recruited Finn, offering services to Finns travel-ling in the country. Filipinos will be able to apply for visas from the Norwegian embassy, while bilateral links will be handled from Finland’s embassy in Malaysia.

Finland to close embassy in the Philippines


News Brief

Swedish investment house Kinnevik is betting big on Southeast Asia’s economic rise through an investment of USD 40 million in online shopping site Lazada, which is emerging as a lead-ing player in the region’s e-commerce sector, reports Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The fresh funds would help the company further expand its already-growing reach and prod-uct line-up for its customers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Lazada is largely believed to be patterned after the popular United States online shopping site Amazon.com, which failed to establish a significant foothold in fast-growing emerging markets like the Philippines. In a statement, Kinnevik investments head Henrik Persson said Lazada’s rise to become a recognized name in e-commerce in a relatively short period led to the investment.

PT Hero Supermarket, which in March this year won the rights to franchise Swedish furniture giant IKEA stores in Indonesia, surged as much as 21.89 percent on 18 October 2012 after it reported

nine-month earnings, representing an increase in revenue to Rp 7.8 trillion (USD 808 million) in the third quarter and a rise in Gross profits of 16.6 percent to Rp 1.8 trillion. “Not inclusive of the pre-opening costs of IKEA, net profits went up by 21.6 percent compared to the same period in the previous year due to the increase in sales and improvements in productivity taking place within the organization,” a press release issued by the retailer announced. Hero is currently constructing the IKEA flagship store in Alam Sutra, Tangerang in Indonesia. Hero Supermarket president director Philippe Broianigo said that the retailer was upbeat about introducing the first IKEA store in 2014. “So far, store expansions are going as scheduled and we expect to open more new supermarkets in the fourth quarter of this year,” he said through a release.

IKEA’s Indonesian partner Hero Supermarket soars on profit jump

Nicolai Ruge presented on 20 September 2012 his letters of credence to his Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia), making him officially the Ambassador of Denmark to Malaysia.

The Presentation of the Credentials took place at the Istana Negara (the National Palace) in Kuala Lumpur, which is the official residence of the King of Malaysia. The current Istana Negara was completed in 2011, replacing the former palace, which dates back to 1928 and has been converted into a museum. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is formally elected to a five-year term by (and among) the nine Rulers of the Malay states that have hereditary royal rulers. The 14th and current Yang di-Pertuan Agong is Sultan Abdul Halim from the state of Kedah. His reign began on 13 December 2011 af-ter his election by Conference of Rulers. He previously served as the fifth Yang di-Pertuan Agong from 1970 to 1975 and he is the first ruler to hold the position twice.

Swedish firm backs Lazada to expand operations in Southest Asia

Danish Ambassador presents credentials to the King of Malaysia


News Brief

Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt spent two eventful days on 7-8 No-vember 2012 in Hanoi, meeting leaders, promoting business ties, green growth and education for all.

She concluded on 8 November 2012 her first official state visit to Vietnam, taking home stronger ties and common ground for further cooperation be-tween the two countries. The PM started off her visit at the Xa Dan School in Hanoi on November 7, talking to kids and feeling inspired by the schools approach to education. The school visit was a high priority for the PM as she has recently been appointed Champion for Education by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. The PM proceeded to promote Danish-Vietnamese business ties, meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on November 8 for the signing of co-operation agreements between Danish companies Novo Nordisk and Semco Maritime and their respective Vietnamese partners. She also visited the National Monument of Heroes and Martyrs in Hanoi, laying wraths to commemorate the fallen and attended an official procession at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, before launching her growth strategy for Vietnam at the Carlsberg-Habeco breweries in the city. She finalized her visit with a courtesy call on the Vietnamese president H.E. Mr. Truong Tan Sang and a lengthy sit down with Communist Party Secretary General, Nguyen Phu Trong. The PM left behind her Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Mr. Mar-tin Lidegaard, as he continued the Danish push for green growth and climate awareness by visiting climate projects in Ben Tre in the country’s south on November 9.

On 12 November 2012, Danish brewer Carlsberg has been given the all clear by Vietnamese authorities to increase its stake in Vietnamese brewer Habeco to 30 percent, reports Reuters.

Carlsberg, the world’s fourth-largest brewer, bought 16 percent in state-owned Habeco for 600 million Danish crowns ($102.25 million) in 2008. In 2009, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of increas-ing the investment to 30 percent. “We expect to have it finished before the year-end. We have been told that we can proceed with the process, a process that has been stalled for a long time,» said Carlsberg communications director Jens Bekke, without giving more details. The stake will cost about USD72.4 million, Vietnamese newspaper Dau Tu, which is published by Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, reported. Carlsberg declined to comment on the price. In October, Carlsberg said it was taking full control of Vietnam’s Hue Brew-ery, buying the 50 percent it did not already own. Carlsberg’s market share is roughly 33 percent in Vietnam and it sells beer under the Halida, Huda, Ha Long Hanoi and Viet Ha Bia Hoi brands as well as the Carlsberg brand.

By Hjalte Zacharewicz Olsen

Carlsberg gets green light to increase Vietnam investment

Danish Prime Minister visits Vietnam to strengthen bilateral ties


News BriefMermaid Maritime gives helmets to all employees’ children

When in life-saving business, it can be difficult to see your employees risk their children’s

lives on a daily basis. It was for newly ap-pointed General Director for the Danish company Mermaid Maritime Vietnam Poul M Schmidt. He was terrified when seeing families on motorbikes with mum and dad wearing helmets, but not the children. To change that hazard situation, Mr. Schmidt in October this year invited all em-ployees and their families to a party, where children were given helmets and both par-ents and children were motivated to use them. The event was a success since many employees participated and had positive opinions about it. In a statement Poul M Schmidt writes: “I hope that this initiative can spread to oth-er companies in Dong Xuyen and that we will soon see Vung Tau, as the city of the country where most children use helmets in traffic.” Mermaid Maritime Vietnam provides Life-saving appliances, fire-fighting equip-ment and other Safety Equipment for the Shipping and Offshore Industries (oil and gas) in Vietnam.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide vis-

ited Singapore in No-vember. During his visit, he met with his Singapor-ean counterpart K Shan-mugam on 7 November 2012 to affirm the two nations’ strong bonds. Singapore and Nor-way have reaffirmed bi-lateral ties and the close cooperation shared be-tween the two countries, reports ChannelNewsA-sia.com. Both countries have good cooperation in areas such as politics, economy and the maritime sectors. The Singapore Foreign Ministry said the two min-isters welcomed opportu-nities to further explore bilateral collaboration. They exchanged views and discussed de-velopments in Europe, Asia and ASEAN. The ministers also talked about leadership transi-tion in China and the US presidential election.

Bomanbridge Media Singapore introduces Angel’s Gate, the world’s first transmedia business reality format, to Finland. The Singaporean company has signed a deal with Finland’s lead-

ing crossmedia production company Intervisio for Angel’s Gate, a business reality format that combines a television program with crowd funding and possibility to obtain venture capital. Leveraging Intervisio’s speciality of combining cross-media platforms such as TV, online and mobile communities, Bomanbridge will introduce Angel’s Gate to Finland where the production is expected to begin in early 2013.

Singapore and Norwayaffirmbilateralties

Singaporean transmedia business reality format sold to Finland


H&M denies slave wages allegations

Swedish fashion giant H&M denied accusations that it en-couraged “slave-like” wages at a subcontractor’s factory in Cambodia on 24 October 2012.

A documentary broadcasted on Swedish television chan-nel TV4 in October alleged that H&M subcontractor’s factory in Cambodia paid its workers such low wages that they had to borrow money to buy food. The programme reported that workers were paid a monthly salary of 500 kronor (approximately 58 Euros or USD 75) for a 70-hour work week, according to news agency TT.However, H&M’s Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson objected to the allegation. “It’s completely incorrect,” he told Swedish Daily Expressen. Swedish TV4 was invited by H&M to Cambodia, where they witnessed textile workers demonstrating for higher pay. “We encourage workers to negotiate their salaries with em-ployers,” Mr. Persson said. “We want all workers to be paid more and that’s why we pressure politicians to raise the mini-mum salary to a living wage. That makes it possible for us to follow up during factory inspections.”

Controversial Pöyry tapped for Xayaburi

Multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry has signed a contract with the Lao government to supervise construction of the divisive Xayaburi hydropower dam

in the country’s north on 9 November 2012, reports the Phnom Penh Post. This work, carried out by its Energy Business Group, will in-clude reviewing the design and supervising construction. “The design includes multiple fish passages, fish-friendly tur-bines, low-level outlet gates for sediment flushing and navigation locks for shipping to minimise possible adverse environmental and social effects,” a company statement says. Pöyry, which is under investigation by the Finnish govern-ment for its role in previous consulting on the dam, will work as the Lao government’s engineer on the project, which officially began on 7 November 2012.

News Brief

Sweden to help Vietnam create unmanned aircraft

Vietnam and Sweden will cooperate in manufacturing unmanned aerial ve-hicles (UAVs) used in various fields in Vietnam, local online VNExpress re-ported on 21 November 2012 quoting sources from the Vietnam Aero-

space Association (VASA), reports Xinhua. Professor Nguyen Duc Cuong (left) and representatives of the Unmanned Group, Sweden, sign a cooperation agreement on unmanned aircraft manufacturing. According to the report, the Vietnam Aerospace Association (VASA) and the Swedish Unmanned Group have signed a joint project in Vietnamese capital Hanoi on 20 November 2012 to UAVs through three phases. In Phase One, Sweden will provide funds and equipment for Vietnam to manu-facture two Magic Eye 1 UAVs. It will send experts from Unmanned Group, provid-ing intellectual property and the model design to Vietnam. During Phase Two, the two sides will cooperate in aeronautical electronic sci-ence development, and in the final phase, they will manufacture UAVs at each other’s demand and capacity. According to the source, President Nguyen Duc Cuong says that Vietnam is a promising land for UAV use. They are extremely useful in mapping, traffic planning, border patrolling, researching and rescuing. UAVs are widely used in the world in various fields such as defense, security, rescue operations, forest management and protection, geological exploration, agro-forestry and fishery services, as well as high-tension wire tests, especially remote sensing. To date, more than 40 countries design and manufacture UAVs. The market is worth 7 billion U.S. dollars per year and is estimated to double in the next 10 years, reported VASA.


News Brief

SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd., a Malaysian oil and gas service provider, plans to acquire rigs owned by Norway’s SeaDrill Ltd. for an enterprise value of USD 2.9 billion, as part of plans to merge the companies’ rig

businesses, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to the Financial Times, the deal will make SapuraKencana the world’s largest operator of tender rigs, which are semi-submersible barges that support the main drilling rig in exploration fields. They are typically rented from a handful of providers by big energy exploration companies. A report from WJ also states that the combined business under Sa-puraKencana will own 16 rigs mostly deployed in Southeast Asian waters with another five currently under construction. SapuraKencana and Seadrill said in a joint statement filed to the Malay-sian stock exchange on 5 November 2012. The rigs businesses had an order backlog worth USD 1.55 billion at the end of October, the companies said. “One of the main objectives of the transaction is to develop a strong leading player in the Far East market,” the statement said, adding that Seadrill will receive a minimum of USD 350 million worth of new shares in SapuraK-encana.

Malaysian group to merge with Norwegian Seadrill

The Danish Business Association (DBA) in Indonesia is holding its an-nual Scandinavian Christmas lunch on 20 January 2013 from 2.00pm to 6.00pm at Hotel Borobudur, TIMUR room on the lobby level. The

address is Jl. Lapangan, Banteng, Jakarta Selatan. Participants can enjoy the afternoon filled with good Scandinavian food and drinks together at the event. Registration starts at 1.30pm. Ticket is Rp. 650,000 per person. Interested people should RSVP to Camilla before 13 January 2012 at [email protected] or contact 0858 8536 2616. Note that Rp. 150,000 will be charged if a confirmed attendee doesn’t show-up without cancellation given at least 48 hours prior to the event.

Danish Business Association Scandinavian Christmas Lunch

Minister of State for Social and Family Development, Halimah Yacob, spoke about her recent trip to Finland and Sweden to the media on the sidelines of a community in Jurong on 11 November 2012.

She highlighted the preschool education system in both countries. She said that both childcare and education are delivered in a holistic and child-centric way in both countries, and she noted that the preschools focus a great deal on play while integrating concepts like numeracy, literacy and ethics. “Some insights are really useful. For instance, the transition from pre-school to compulsory education in both countries starts at the age of seven. The transition is quite smooth in the sense that there is a lot of coordination between curriculums of the preschool and the primary school. “In Finland, in order to ensure that transition, the preschool education for six-year-old preschoolers is located in primary school itself. “But although it is located in the primary school, in the case of Sweden, the people who teach the six-year-olds are still the preschool teachers. But they are in the school because they want the kids to get the feel that they are transitioning from preschool education to compulsory education. That I think is a useful concept, a really useful idea in terms of how you can en-hance the quality of preschool education.”

On 5 November 2012, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien-Loong on the sideline of the Asem summit in Laos.

“Meeting with Asian leaders is even more important in time of crisis,” says the Danish Prime Minister. “Asia has growth while Europe is in reces-sion and that makes the discussions between Asia and Europe more impor-tant than ever.” “Europe and Asia need closer relationships to exploit the economic possibilities,” she adds.

Danish Prime Ministermeets Singaporean colleague

Singapore’s minister calls Nordic preschool a useful concept


News Brief

Innovative eyewear company Digby Duke expands into Asia Pacific with the first online shopping site in Singapore. Less than a year since it appeared on the international retail eyewear

landscape, Digby Duke Eyewear has increased its international footprint by opening an online store in Singapore. “Singaporeans are real connoisseurs when it comes to eyewear so we hope they will also fall in love with Digby Duke’s modern, feather light glasses with thin high index lenses,” said Norena Jansen, CEO and co-founder of Digby Duke. The orders, together with the eye-prescription details, are sent directly from the Digby Duke website to its optical lab, where the glasses are assem-bled and inspected for quality before they are shipped directly to customers. Digby Duke, which designs and distributes eyewear frames and pre-scription glasses, has offices in Norway and the US.

Mr. Anders Borg, the Swedish Minister of Finance, visited Singapore in October. During the one-day visit, he met with Singapore’s Deputy Minister and Minister of Finance Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam

and representatives from Singapore’s finance sector to discuss the economic situation in Singapore, Asia and Europe. Swedish Minister Anders Borg had fruitful discussions on a wide range of issues with Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. The strong and close bilateral relations in many areas were highlighted. Singapore is Sweden’s largest export market in Southeast Asia, and most Swedish companies use Singapore as a regional hub. The program also consisted of meetings with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the East Asian Institute, and representatives from the banking and financial sector in Singapore. In the evening, the Swedish Ambassador Inge-mar Dolfe hosted a dinner for Finance Minister Anders Borg at the Swedish Residence.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is increasing its flight frequencies between Singapore and Copenhagen from three to five times weekly from March 31 next year, reports Business Traveller.

According to SIA, it can do this now because the joint venture it agreed with SAS, signed in May this year, has been given final regulatory approval. “We have wanted to increase services to Scandinavia for some time and our partnership with SAS enables us to do this,” said Nicholas Ionides, vice president of public affairs at SIA. “There is good demand for both business class and economy class travel on the Singapore to Copenhagen route.” Ionides added that both Singapore and Copenhagen served as hubs for onward connections, as well as point-to-point travel destinations. Several airlines have sought to develop Scandinavian cities as hubs for flights to and from Asia because flying over the top of the globe provides shorter travelling times. In October JAL announced it was starting flights to Helsinki next year in order to offer shorter trips to major cities in Europe. Ionides added that the airline would also explore new routes be-tween Scandinavia and Singapore subject to market conditions.

Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg visits Singapore

Norwegian eyewear Digby Duke opens online store in Singapore

SIA to increase weekly flights to Copenhagen


Let’s make Christmas HeartsChristmas is a time where children and grown ups should join around the dinner table to play with paper and glue in preparation of the upcoming celebrations.

By Gregers Moller

Christmas Hearts as we know them to-day goes back to the world famous Dan-ish author H.C. An-

dersen. It was he who made the very first heart which later in 1871 became a template of a Christmas heart. In Denmark a particular day has been announced “Christmas Heart Day” - the 23rd December - where we should all cut and weave our hearts together.

Hearts are easy!First you need to buy some glossy gift wrapping paper or other similar paper with different colour. If it has the size of A4, fold it down to A5 and fold it again down to A6. Cut it along the fold to A6 and you will have paper for one heart. But it will be the same colour. Therefore you have to do the same with an A4

sheet of different colour. Now you can make two hearts. Place a cup or glass at the not-folded edge and draw a half circle that you can cut after. Next, mark a line 4 cm from the opposite edge, the folded edge. Slice the hearts up in four strips from the folded edge and up to your line. Now you are ready to start weaving them together. Carefully insert the folded edge of one strip between the ‘loop’ of the other. The strip that just went between now goes around. It can not be over and under(!), it has to be around and between. Now start on the next strip. Do the opposite of last time: around, then between so you make a check pattern. Continue until all strips are woven. Once you get the hang of it, you can make unlimited number of variations.

This woven Christmas heart is the believed to be produced by the author H.C. Andersen in 1860 or 1862 and is

the World’s first Christmas heart.

together!


How do you celebrate

It is common for Nordic expats to have bad memories of their first Christmas in Asia. The special Christmas mood was not there. The calendar said 24 December,

but the temperature and everything screams anything but Christmas. As time goes, most find ways to adjust their Christmas expectations to Asia and actually create new Christ-mas mood triggers. ScandAsia has asked seven prom-inent Scandinavians living in Asia how they plan to celebrate Christmas this year - and how they usually celebrate Christmas in Asia. Enjoy the reading. “God Jul!”

ScandAsia has asked seven prominent Scandinavians living in Asia how they plan to celebrate Christmas this year - and how they usually celebrate Christmas in Asia.

Christian Overgaard is Chairman of Danish Chamber of Commerce in China (DCCC) Shanghai & SVP and Global Head of Heat Exchanger Business Danfoss. He has been living in Asia for over 10 years. He tells ScandAsia that he initially held home country Christ-mas family values and went to Denmark with his Chi-nese wife and two children. However, over the years, they now prefer the big family tour over summer in Denmark since the weather is better for them. Christian says that his wife’s family originates from the South of China and therefore gravitates towards Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. “We have been several times to the theme parks “Splendid China” and “Window of the world” in

Axel Blom and his wife “Jak” will on Christ-mas Eve be on a plane on their way back from a meeting in Oslo. “It is not our dream solution,” Axel Blom admits. “But this year, it just cannot be helped.” Axel Blom, who is President of the Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce and long- time resident of Thailand, usually alternates between celebrating Christmas in Bangkok or in Scandinavia, which means ei-ther Norway or Denmark. “When in Bangkok, we always celebrate Christmas Eve with a dinner with some friends. I am myself in charge of the roast crispy pork with brown potatos,” says Axel. “I know it is more Danish than Norwe-gian, but lutefisk is not my taste,” he laughs. “Every year, we also always buy a real Christmas tree from Villa Supermarket. The smell is so good. This year, we will check to see, what kind of trees IKEA will be selling. I want to see if the quality will be the same.” he says.

His Excellency Mr. Tormod Cappelen Endresen, the new Norwegian Ambassador to Singapore, is looking forward to celebrating his first and rather unusual Christmas in Singapore. “I have spent a different way of celebrating Christmas whilst serving the military service. And what I like about a different celebration is that they are often the ones you remember the most. This year will also be an extra nice one as we are having family and friends visiting the town. In fact we are having about 15 guests from Norway coming down to Singapore for Christmas.” When asked about missing the traditional Norwegian Christmas preparations, Mr. Endresen said that there are many Norwegian com-munity’s activities in Singapore. “There is the Julebasar at the Seamen’s Church and also Julebord (Christmas Parties) at this time of the year to attend. Pinnekjøtt is on the Christmas Eve menu for this year as we will be having it at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church. It will be nice with the Asian twist to it and I am looking forward to it,” said Mr. Endresen

Christmas in Asia?

Shenzhen among family friends. Other years in be-tween, we spend Christmas in Bali, Singapore, and so on,” he says. Christian’s daughter likes the Danish Christmas tradition and food, so last year she went with him while his wife, son (he prefers Chinese food) and parents-in-law went to a Zhuhai Spa place for re-laxing time with grandmother. “In China, Christmas planning always combines with Spring Festival planning - and lately also skiing planning for our family,” he says. This year they will again ‘divide and conquer’ due to his busy work schedule, but they will start the festive season with some family skiing in No-vember/December. “For Christmas, my wife will go to the ancestral town of Chao Zhou with children and parents-in-law for a week before I join them in Hong Kong. We have many friends in Hong Kong and like the Disney Land which is not too big for children aged 6-8 years,” says Christian. “Finally, for a family like ours Hong Kong always reminds us of the place where “East blends with West” in true yin-yang style - and that has prob-ably become part of our multi-cultural Christmas values!” he adds.

Multicultural Christmas – Divide and Conquer

Christmas in the air

First Christmas in Singapore


Erik Dahlström, Regional Ac-counts Manager with Asian Tigers Transpo International Ltd. based in Bangkok gets into Christmas mood when cook-ing Christmas dinner with his friends from Sweden. “Our friends come out here a few weeks around Christmas every year. They have their own place, so they don’t stay with us, but on Christmas Eve they will typically come over quite early in the afternoon and then we start cooking together,” Erik says. The dinner is quite early, starting around 4 - 5 o’clock. Erik and his wife Nujeen have three children and the young-est is only four so it is better to start early. “After dinner one of us... I mean, when its dark, we all have to wait for Santa Claus to come out here all the way to Bangkok,” he quickly corrects himself. Christmas in the Dahlström home typically comes complete with a Christmas tree. Usually a plastic tree but maybe it will be a real tree this year.

Emilie and Peter Hjortsoe moved to Hanoi in 2010 looking for new adven-tures away from home. Emilie Hjortsoe just started her own management consulting business this summer and she is looking forward to a quiet and calm Christmas with her husband Peter and 15-month old son Arthur. “Last year we went to Phu Quoc Island, but this year we are focusing on essential quality time in the family at home here in Hanoi”. Emilie Hjort-soe loves Hanoi around Christmas time, it’s a cosy and quiet time, she says. “Going to Denmark for Christmas can be rather rushed at times, this year we are looking for peace and time for a tranquil Christmas with the family, and that is what matters.” It remains to be seen if their Vietnamese oven can make for a happy Christmas duck to go with a Vietnamese inspired cabbage salad. “I am thinking some orange juice and nuts in a cold fresh cabbage salad this year,” she contemplates. The presents from family back in Denmark have already arrived and a wonderful plastic Christmas tree is ready for decorations. “I made Calendar presents for our son to open every day, they will be some decorations in there for the tree and we also got plenty of Danish nougat and marzipan for making confetti, it will be a first for our son – so we are going for the gold medal this year in confetti making”, she says laughing.

Snow will be central this year for the Ranta family. After five years in Singapore and two years in Hong Kong, the two sons Anselm, 9 and Amos, 7 are eager to get some experience with snow. Since there is hardly any guarantee for a white Christmas in their home town in southern Finland, they prefer to spend a few days skiing in Japan instead. A couple of years ago the family went skiing in Niseko, on Japan’s northern island, Hokkaido, but this year they plan to visit the small and cozy hot spring village Nozawa Onsen in Nagano. They go right after Christmas and spend New Year in Winterland. Christmas itself will however be celebrated at home in Singa-pore, together with good friends. “I think it is definitely possible to get into the right Christmas feeling here in Singapore,” says Helinä. She wants to make sure that the Christmas tree is up and ready by the Finnish Independence day, December 6. At 12 noon on De-cember 24, Christmas peace is officially announced, and the Ranta’s try to have everything ready by then so they can relax and enjoy traditional food and drinks together.

Ziegler, President Danish Business Association Singapore, celebrates a tra-ditional Danish Christmas together with Children, ex-wife and Henrik’s mother, who comes visiting from Denmark. The Ziegler’s family has no trouble getting into the Christmas spirit in the heat of Singapore. The whole packet of Danish Christmas traditions secures the right spirit. “We have a totally traditional Danish Christmas dinner with Roast pork, duck, rice à l’impératrice and with a gift to the one who gets the whole almond hidden in the rice à l’impératrice. We dance around the Christmas tree and sing all the traditional Christmas carols. It is as traditional as it gets,” Henrik Ziegler tells.

Vietnamese inspired Danish

Christmas home in Hanoi White New Year in Asia

Cooking up Christmas mood

Traditional Danish family Christmas in Singapore


Casper Tolleruds’s top 3 hidden treasures of China:

Gansu:A small village surrounded by beautiful nature. The Tibetan New Year’s celebration in February is worth seeing. Thousands of Tibetan pilgrims gather for this spectacular event held every year.

Hunan: Located in the South Central of China, the province includes the birth city of Mao, Shaoshan, and the “World Heritage Site” Wulingyuan with thousands of beautiful sandstone peaks.

Guizhou:This province in the South of China has beautiful sights and has one of the nation’s biggest demographic diversity. The place is famous for its beautiful closed bridges built by the Dong minority.

For more information about Casper Tollerud and his agency visit:www.genuinechinatours.com

Casper shows the hidden treasures of China Danish/Norwegian traveller and tourist guide Casper Tollerud has seen almost every corner of China. Now he wants to share parts of China that tourists normally do not see, so he started his own travelling agency called Genuine China Tours.

By Mikkel Keldorf

Back in 1997 a young Sinology student went on a study trip to China with his Danish Univer-sity. Sinology is a sort of

Chinese culture study, and one of the students lost his heart to China completely after the trip. His name is Casper Tollerud. Today, 15 years later, Casper Tollerud has his own travel agency based in Shanghai and Xian with 12 employees, over 30 destination offerings and working with agencies worldwide. Even Chinese tourists go to the Danish agency for guided tours in their own country. So what is the secret? Well, according to Casper Tollerud the secret is basically to know all the secrets about one of the most lucrative tourist destinations these days.

“We research all of our tours on our own. I take the trip and take photos, sleep at the hotels, eat in the restaurants and so on. It takes a lot of resources getting to know the different destinations, but we can-not compete with the local Chinese agencies on the price. We have to deliver better quality and we do that by researching thoroughly,” says Casper Tollerud to ScandAsia.

Difficulties with rules and regulations Casper Tollerud started guiding tour-ists in various destinations in China back in 1997 to finance his study trip. Since then he has worked for differ-ent Danish travel agencies. During his years of guiding he came up with a lot of ideas on how to improve the tours. But since he failed to convince his bosses back in Denmark to cut off the connections to the low quality Chinese agents, he decided to do it all on his own. In 2008 he established his first company in Shanghai, the city in which Casper Tollerod currently resides. Building up a company in the ever-growing megacity was not as easy as expected. A travel agency needs various different registrations and only 25 companies get the re-quired license every year. “There are a lot of problems in that city. The small number of licences issued is a problem in itself, but as a foreigner you are nowhere near the top of the list when getting your license. At a travel agency, you work with people and not products – that is the main reason why there is so much more regulation in this business,” says Casper Tollerud. After failing to get the paperwork done in Shanghai, Casper Tollerud

created an office in Xian in the centre of China. The city has about 7 mil-lion inhabitants and is not nearly as touristy as Shanghai. So in 2009 the company Genuine China Tours was granted its full license in Xian. It is now the main office and Shanghai is the branch office.

From Europe to China – and the other way around?Since it’s difficult for Genuine China Tours to compete with local agen-cies and big international companies on tour prices, the company’s target is to reach the “older” crowd being aged 50+ as they tend to have time and money to enjoy a trip with a little extra quality. “A majority of our customers are Danish since they are the easi-est for us to connect with. But we also have partnerships with agencies throughout Europe and a few in the Unites States. Most of our customers are the “grey gold” (expression for middle-aged and rich) because they have a huge urge to travel,” says Casper Tollerud. In the future Casper Tollerud expects not only to show China to Europeans and American tourists but also to arrange trips for Chinese people to Denmark. The economic boost China has experienced means more wealth and hopefully for Casper Tollerud – more travelling for the Chinese. “We have various ideas for bring-ing Chinese people to Denmark. We want to go by the same concept of showing smaller places and not only the capital, Copenhagen. We plan on making trips to Skagen, Bornholm and Odense,” says Casper Tollerud referring to some of the most impor-tant tourist cities in Denmark.


While most Scandinavian media had their eyes on the American presidential election, European and Asian leaders gathered in Vientiane in Laos for the 9th Asem Summit on 5 - 6 November 2012.

By Kim Birkkjaer Lund

Friendship, freedom and trade

For two days Vientiane, the otherwise relaxed capital of Laos, was hosting 11 head of states and 21 heads of government plus ministers,

ambassadors and representatives of the press from all parts of the world. The occasion was the 9th Asem summit. Daily life was put on hold, schools and businesses were closed, while conveys of limousines with police escorts drove through streets closed for other traffic. A new 24,900sqm Convention Centre (ICC), funded by the Chinese government with a price tag of 450 million Yang (USD 80 million), has been built for the summit. The Wat-tay International Airport has been enlarged and 50 luxury villas have been built on the riverbanks of Me-kong to accommodate the Asian and European leaders. 102 families have been moved to make space for the Lao and Chinese joint venture which has built the 50 villas as the first step in a USD 180-million plan expected to be completed by 2021.

wish to promote mutual ties after a six years hiatus (since the military coup in 2006) of high-level discus-sions. When meeting with Thein Sein, President of Myanmar, Katainen ex-pressed Finland’s interest in discuss-ing ways of enhancing cooperation, developing the activities of civil so-ciety and increasing democratic dia-logue in Myanmar. “Based on our own experi-ence, I underlined that inclusive and open education is a key element of a well-functioning, modern society respecting human rights,” said Prime Minister Katainen in Laos.

Internet freedomSweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt is a veteran in Asian – Eu-ropean cooperation. The 9th summit in Laos was Carl Bildt’s 5th Summit. Rather unconventional Bildt had chosen to make freedom of the inter-net to his main agenda at the summit. “Sweden raised the issue of in-ternet freedom and security. Inter-net freedom has received increas-ing attention and becoming a topic of discussion in a number of Asian countries. That’s why we believe it is important to put these issues on the agenda,” says Mr. Bildt Carl Bildt has previously men-tioned Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand as countries that have more or less elaborate restrictions to the freedom of and the freedom on the net and named China among the world leaders in the area of con-trolling and restricting the internet. Before Bildt left Vientiane he visited the Scandinavian Bakery and being a diligent twitter he posted a recommendation: “Next time you pass by Vientiane, don’t miss the Scandinavian Bakery!”

First Chinese - Norwegian contact in two yearsFor Norway and Stoltenberg the 9th Asem summit was a debut. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Stoltenberg praised Asia as a driv-ing force in global economy and underlined Norway’s confidence in the Asian economies by men-tion, that the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has invested about 80 billion US dollars in Asian equities and fixed income holdings. Stoltenberg used the summit to meet with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. A meeting which made headline in many media as it was the first official contact between China and Norway in two years. Norway has been put ice by China since the pro-democracy dissident Liu Xiao-bo was awarded with the Nobel Peace Price in 2010. Stoltenberg also met with the Philippine’s President Benigno S. Aquino. Aquino informed Stolten-berg of the recent signing of the 2012 Framework Agreement on

the Bangsamoro. They furthermore tackled the strengthening of bilateral maritime and labour cooperation. Stoltenberg also met with Ma-laysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and with Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. At the meeting with Najib, Stol-tenberg offered to deliver Norwegian missiles for Royal Malaysian Navy and to provide Malaysia with the latest technology in oil and gas drilling. The Thai Prime Minister and Stoltenberg talked about resum-ing the negotiation on a free trade agreement between EFTA (Nor-way, Iceland, Switzerland and Liech-tenstein) and Thailand.

Education key to modernsocietyThe Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Ka-tainen had two busy days in Vien-tiane. On the sideline he met with Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, South Korean Prime Min-ister Kim Hwang-sik, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Thein Sein, Presi-dent of Myanmar. South Korea and Finland signed a preliminary deal in May in Finland to expand cooperation in the nu-clear energy field and the two PMs used the occasion to discourse fur-ther cooperation. Dung and Katainen talked about strengthen the ties of friendship, trade and economic cooperation. Furthermore, they agreed to orga-nize activities to mark the 40th an-niversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Finland next year. The Thai Prime Minister Yin-gluck Shinawatra assured Katainen of Thailand’s political and economic stability. Both PMs expressed their

Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt

A new Convention Centre (ICC), funded by the Chinese government


In an exclusive interview with ScandAsia the Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt tells about her visit to Myanmar and her agenda at the Asem summit.


Interview with the Danish Prime Minister

What have been the main issue of your speeches at the summit?I have talked about education. I have been appointed as education Champion by the UN and believe that Asia and Europe jointly can do a lot to improve education. Then I have talked about econ-omy, especially green economy,

It’s quite natural for the Nordic countries to work together on a mission like this. We have discussed joint mission in the Nordic Council and agreed on more joint diplomatic missions. The Nordic countries have a lot in common and share views on many subject. We disagree on very few issues, so it makes sense to join with Norway on representation in Myanmar and if the Swedes want to join they will be very welcome as well.

Even Myanmar has made great progress towards democracy, there still are huge unsolved problems concerning human rights as the persecution of the Rohingyas. Do you intend to raise the Rohingya issue at the meeting with the Myanmar President?I have raised the issue when speak-ing with Myanmar’s ministers and also when speaking with Aung San Suu Kyi. It is an issue that concerns those I have talked with as well as it concerns us. We have to use dia-logue to constantly push the devel-opment of human rights, freedom of press and the protection of mi-norities.

Europe is hit by crisis and we want to develop our relations with Asia, which still has growth, but opposite China and to some degree Japan we also want to interfere with the way they govern their countries. Does our desire to interfere harm the Danish business community?No it doesn’t. Having educational and cultural relations as well as polit-ical dialogue and trade and business relation is all part of a circle where the various relationships strengthen the overall relationship. By having a wide variety of relationships with a country, it becomes much easier to explain our views.

where I drew the attention to the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) which we established together with Korea, proving that just two coun-tries bilateral can create something that can have a huge impact on green economy. And finally I have talked about piracy. It is an issue where both Eu-rope and Asia have large interest.

Piracy impede our trading but most importantly it causes human disaster for the victims, so I have raised the issue as a theme of common interest.

You met with Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean Prime Minister yesterday. What was the theme of your meeting?An increasing partnership and co-operation with Singapore. Both Singapore and Denmark are trading nations and maritime nations, so we have a lot in common and a lot we can achieve together. We recently signed a Memorandum of Under-standing (MOU) to cooperate on maritime issues with Singapore. I used the occasion to confirm that Denmark are dedicated to co-operation with Singapore and to tell that Denmark strongly supports a free trade agreement between Sin-gapore and EU and a agreement had priority in our presidency of the EU.

Later today you are meeting with Myanmar President U Thein Sein. What is the headline for the meeting?I visited Myanmar before going to the Asem summit, but we didn’t have time for meeting while I was in Myan-mar. Now fortunately we meet here. My message is simple: We recognize the political changes towards democ-racy in Myanmar and are prepared for next steep in our cooperation with Myanmar. Myanmar should know that they can count on Denmark and that we will be present in Myanmar. That’s why we have opened a small diplomatic mission in Myanmar and I visited the country two days ago being the first Danish Prime Minister to visit the country.

You inaugurated the mission together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg Sunday. Why did Denmark choose to open a joint mission with Norway?


Swedish Prime Minister visits Indonesia


Swedish Prime Minister visits IndonesiaPrime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has recently visited Indonesia to strengthen global relations and bilateral Trade.

By Melissa Holck

November 13 marked a historic event be-tween Sweden and Indonesia when the country welcomed

the arrival of Swedish Prime Minis-ter, Fredrik Reinfeldt. However, In-donesia is no stranger to high profile visits from Swedish dignitaries. They have previously welcomed Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt in 2008 and H.E. King Carl XVI Gustaf in Jan-uary of 2012, with this visit marking another milestone for the progress of the two countries with it being the first visit to be made to Indo-nesia by a Swedish Prime Minister. The arrival of PM Reinfeldt kicked off a two-day working visit with great expectations towards future growth and collaborations between the two countries. Prime Minister Reinfeldt was ac-companied by Swedish Minister of Trade, H.E. Dr. Ewa Bjorling, as well as more than 50 high-level delegates representing the Swedish govern-ment, business sector, banking in-dustry and governmental agencies for innovation, entrepreneurship and export financing. The primary objective of the visit to Indonesia was to continue to focus on potential growth op-portunities between Indonesia and Sweden. Indonesia’s progression over the last ten years and increased

trade with Sweden has not gone un-noticed. It is of strategic importance within the new growing markets now that the European trade has declined. The friendly relationship between Sweden, the third largest country in Europe and Indonesia the fourth most populated country and second to China as the fastest growing country in the G20 put-ting the global ties between the two nations on the fast track. For an export dependent country such as Sweden, it is crucial that Sweden maintains a presence in Indonesia to strengthen the bond. With the increased demand for high-tech products, improved infra-structure and increased purchasing power; Sweden has seen a rapid ex-port growth to Indonesia. The sub-stantial progress has shown a record increase of more than 58 percent during the months of January to Au-gust of this year. However, with its continued advancement, Indonesia is still in need of investment to its infrastructure, education and health-care. The primary focus of the bilat-eral efforts between Indonesia and Sweden remain trade, investment, democracy, human rights, climate change, education and healthcare. These efforts towards continued development open the door for a vast potential of continued and fu-ture trade opportunities between the two countries. Based on stats provided by In-donesia’s Central Statistics Agency, bilateral trade has significantly in-creased even with the global de-cline. First quarter statistics of two-way trade for this year reached US$383.44 million, an overall in-crease of 63.84% from $234.02 mil-lion during the same period in 2011. Total trade value between 2010 and 2011 has shown an increase of more than 19%. Currently there are more than 44 Swedish companies with a mar-ket presence in Indonesia. With well know companies such as ABB, Ericsson, Electrolux, H&M, SKF, Tet-ra Pak and Volvo already operating in Indonesia, the foundation for fu-ture Swedish business investment and development has been paved making way for Swedish furniture company IKEA to open its first In-donesian location in 2014. PM Reinfeldt’s visit promises to be a positive step towards future col-

laborations between the two coun-tries in the areas of sustainable de-velopment, infrastructure, education and bilateral trade. Sweden is enthu-siastic on investing in Indonesia and sharing its expertise in areas such as health, education, science and tech-nology as well as many others. Upon his arrival, Prime Minister Reinfeldt was welcomed by Presi-dent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace for a wel-coming ceremony. Following the welcoming ceremony PM Reinfeldt had the opportunity to participate in a bilateral meeting with Indo-nesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The bilateral meeting allowed for detail discussions on various topics of importance and allowed the two heads of govern-ment to exchange ideas on global and regional issues of concern with focus on trade, investment, innova-tion, further democratization as well as climate change. After meeting with President Yudhoyono, PM Reinfeldt toured the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta with newly elected Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo. During this visit PM Reinfeldt had the opportunity to enter the peak of the monument for a panoramic view of the city and its traffic. PM Reinfeldt offered to assist in a plan to solve Jakarta’s ever growing traffic problems commenting that the traf-fic jams in Jakarta would inevitably increase along with Indonesia’s rapid economic growth. On the second day of PM Rein-feldt visit, he delivered the keynote speech at the roundtable sympo-sium which was a joint collaboration between the Swedish Trade Council and the Swedish Embassy in Jakarta. The symposium theme “Indone-sia – Sweden: Unlocking the Trade and Innovation Potential” provided a forum for both government offi-cials and prominent Indonesian and Swedish business representatives to jointly discuss increased trade development opportunities for the future. On the conclusion of the pro-ductive two-day visit President Susi-lo Bambang Yudhoyono reported that Sweden has been invited to take part in the development of In-donesia, thus laying the foundation for President Yudhoyono’s visit to Sweden in 2013.


According to the article, the Minister says that the Ministry is working on having Thai citizens exempted from visa to

the Schengen area and that he ap-preciates Sweden’s support on this. Dr. Surapong also reveals that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra recently assigned him to act as a co-ordinator to work with concerned agencies to improve regulation – in-cluding visa or stay and work per-mits – to help facilitate foreign busi-nesses and investment in Thailand. Some of his quotes published in the article are featured here.

Visa free travel to Schengen“Thailand has unilaterally granted visa exemption and visa on arrival for short-term stay in Thailand for EU citizens. We, therefore, hope that holders of Thai ordinary pass-ports would be exempted from Schengen visa requirements and have approached our relevant EU partners to consider this.” “We hope the Schengen mem-bers will see the benefit of easing travel requirements for Thai business people and Thai tourists by waiving Schengen visa requirements. We are appreciative that Sweden supports

the waiving of visa requirements for Thais which is crucial because every member of the Schengen area will have a say on this matter.”

Regulations hamperingbusinessAs for the issue concerning foreign business people doing business in Thailand, the minister shares how the government plans to facilitate foreign businesses. “The Government is well aware of some inconveniences faced by foreign business people wishing to do business in Thailand. The Prime Minister herself has recently as-signed me to act as a coordinator to work with concerned agencies to improve regulatory regimes - whether they are visa or stay and work permits - and help facilitate foreign businesses and investment in our country. “The issue you raise was in-deed one of the issues addressed in a meeting on 25 October 2012 that we had with relevant authori-ties, namely the Ministry of Interior, Immigration Bureau, Thailand Con-vention and Exhibition Bureau and especially the Ministry of Labour (MOL). As the issue on a work per-mit requirement for a short-time

business visitor is governed by the Working of Aliens Act B.E. 2551 (2008), the Department of Em-ployment of MOL, who is the sole agency responsible for this area, has proposed to seek legal advice from the Council of State on how to re-solve this impediment to the busi-ness environment in Thailand.” “In the meantime, there is an exception to the regulation which means that a work permit is not required for business visitors who need to enter Thailand to conduct necessary and urgent business for a period of not exceeding 15 days. However, they have to inform MOL of the purpose by fax or at the MOL counter which opens 24 hours at the Suvarnabhumi Airport.”

Joint Plan of ActionRegarding a renewed Thai-Sweden Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), Dr. Surapong says that he has discussed the importance of the new JPOA with Sweden’s Minister Carl Bildt during his visit to Thailand in April this year. “The Thai side has finished re-viewing the first Draft of JPOA and sent it to the Swedish side. We ex-pect to receive comments from the Swedish side soon,” he says.

Increase student exchangeHe also shares his view on the Swedish-Thai relations in the field of education. “We are happy to see more Swedish students studying in Thai-land. However, since the end of 2011 when Sweden began to collect tuition fees from foreign students, we have seen a dramatic decline in the number of Thai students go-ing to Sweden. We believe that this situation would improve and lead to greater exchanges between our peoples if the Swedish government grants more scholarships to Thai stu-dents in fields that Sweden has ex-pertise such as science and technol-ogy, alternative energy, and design.” Dr. Surapong says that Thai-land and Sweden have long enjoyed close and cordial bilateral relations, where the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs is constantly engaged in dia-logue with the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok and the Thai embassy in Stockholm works closely with the Swedish Foreign Ministry. “At the multilateral level, Thai-land and Sweden also enjoy great cooperation and mutual support. For example, both sides have ex-changed votes in various UN elec-tions,” he says.

The Thai Sweden Review Magazine of Thai-Sweden Chamber of Commerce (TSCC) has recently published the rare Q&A interview with Dr. Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, in its November 2012 issue.

Dr. Surapong onThai-Swedish relations


Fact finding in Myanmar with TSCC

Discussions with the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI)

A fantastic country and a great people which offers huge business opportunities in all sectors but also bigger than normal risks. Those are some of the conclusions from the Thai Swedish Chamber of Commerce fact finding trip to Myanmar.


When is the right time to enter busi-ness in Myanmar? Foreign investors are queuing up for

getting into business in Myanmar. Japan has been eager to get in with massive investments and China has been there for years. Has Swedish companies slept over when not a single Swedish com-pany has own branch in Myanmar? The answer is as simple as it is short: No. And maybe it is still too soon, according to Peter Björk, Ex-ecutive director for Thai-Sweden Chamber of Commerce (TSCC). “I am totally convinced, especial-ly after this trip, that there is no need to rush. Actually we asked some of our speakers with Myanmar experi-ence, if it still is too early to get in with investments,” says Peter Björk It was his second trip to Myan-mar. He believes that it is wise to go there and makes contacts, but warns against being caught by the hype to be first. “A lot of things are still missing: Office spaces, homes for expats, infra-structure, banking and finance systems for overseas transactions, education systems just to mention some.”

Office prices doubled 10 persons representing a mix of small, medium and big companies, the Swedish Foreign Trade Associa-tion and TSCC participated in the fact finding tour.

“You can have business seminars in Bangkok talking about doing busi-ness in Myanmar but it is quite dif-ferent to actually be there and meet local business representatives.” Anthony Picon from Colliers told the participants that prices had more than doubled from 30 USD per square meter to 75 USD in a year, and he expected them to dou-ble once more to 150 USD as de-velopers are holding back because of the uncertainty. “We were told that foreign companies will be allowed to lease on 50 years contracts with two time 10 years extension options but it is only expectations, no one knows for sure,” says Peter Björk.

No proper banking systemOne of the big obstacles for invest-ments and business is the lack of a proper banking system for overseas payments. “The banking system isn’t up to standards making it difficult to trans-fer money in and out of the country in a proper manner. This is however set to be improved soon when new regulations for the banking sector will be launched.” There is also some reluctance. Local business has been protected against competition for 60 years, making some nervous for opening to much up. “They are welcoming foreign investments and they are open to

foreigners but at the same time they want to protect their own busi-ness,” tells Peter Björk.

Partners or even helpersLuc De Waegh was invited to speech and surprised with a very personal and committed speak on Myanmar’s sincerity in its wish for becoming a part of the world after years of isolation and their eager-ness for development. It was a speech in line with the participant’s discussion on Corpo-rate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a part of the right investment strategy. “The CSR perspective seems to be as important for Myanmar as it is for our members. After Myanmar has been locked out from the world for decades, we have to see our-selves as partners and maybe even helpers who care about both the country and its people.”

A tangible offerPeter Björk considers the fact find-ing visit a great success. Several participants had separate meetings with either established partners, as the represents from Volvo who met with their local importer, others met with potential future partners. “I am convinced that we achieved our goals with this trip. We got first-hand knowledge and we made new contacts. We will certainly be back with more initiatives on Myanmar for our members.”


Landmark agreement with PetroVietnam Marine Shipyard and PVD Tech aims at developing Vang Tau port to an upgrade and repair centre for drilling rigs in South East Asia

SEMCO

of setting up shop in Vietnam, taking into account the time and money in-ternational rig operators in the region could save, if being able to turn to Vang Tau for upgrades, modifications and refurbishments. “We are a flexible and highly specialized company with a strong emphasis on the customers need, we are not here to do things cheaper, but do them better, our experts on the ground are essential to making this happen”, he said. Mr. Hans-Peter Jørgensen was feeling confident on future perspec-tives for the Vang Tau operations and made a point of noting that this agreement was about “doing the right thing in the right place and making it work.”. A big factor in moving Rigs to repair and upgrades is time and un-certainty of weather conditions. The Vang Tau port will create a faster and safer alternative to towing the rigs to the port in Singapore. SEMCO hopes Vang Tau will cover the entire area from the Thailand gulf and up the coast of southern China. “It will save operators up to nine days of towing back and forth to Sin-gapore, taking into account the costs of towing, up to 100.000 USD and the reduction of downtime, there is a strong economic incentive, not to mention safety issues.”, Mr. Hans-Peter Jørgensen explains. SEMCO will now focus on imple-menting the new set-up at Vang Tau and is preparing itself for busy times “We have so much work to do, our

SEMCO Vice-president Mr. Hans-Peter Jørgensen presents visions for the future to Vietnamese partners and delegates and SEMCO seminar, Hanoi

Facts about Semco Maritime:1. Establised marts 2009 in Vang Tau2. 47 employes3. Producing accomodation to Oil rigs. Using containers4. Stadard accommodations on stock5. Special accommodations: producing times 6 to 8 weeks

Danish contractor SEMCO MARITIME signed the landmark cooperation agree-ment with the two

Vietnamese companies in the pres-ence of visiting Danish Prime Minister Ms. Helle Thorning Schmidt and her Vietnamese counterpart Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung at the Prime Ministers office in Hanoi, thus stating the im-portance of the agreement to both countries as they seek to promote and strengthen mutual ties. SEMCO CEO Mr. Steen Broed-baek put his pen to the agreement, which signals a new stage for SEMCO in Vietnam and brings promise of turning Vang Tau port into a first choice rig repair and upgrade centre in the South East Asia region. “This is a big moment for our company in Vietnam, we are very happy to be here today with our Vietnamese partners, I think it was simply a very good day for all of us,” , Mr. Steen Broedbaek said. SEMCO will seek to connect their extensive specialist experience and expertise in managing, coordinat-ing and supervising rig projects, with yard facilities and labour supplies pro-vided by the Vietnamese companies. Together the three partners hope to turn the port into a competitive high quality operator in the region. The three companies partici-pated in a seminar after the signing, where SEMCO Senior Vice President Mr. Hans-Peter Jørgensen under-scored the competitive advantages

agreement signals new stage for Vietnam oil and gas activities


company is growing fast and we now have to focus on investigating the marked for potential international customers for Vang Tau, so besides setting up shop, it is time to get the message out there,” he said. Mr. Hans-Peter Jørgensen be-lieves that SEMCO can and will cater to European and American operators in the region. The plan, he says, is an adventure of sorts for SEMCO as

SEMCO CEO Mr. Steen Broedbaek

discusses SEMCO activities with Danish Minister

for Climate, Energy and Buildings

Mr. Martin Lidegaard

SEMCO CEO Mr. Steen Broedbaed puts his pen to the cooperation agreement in the presence of the Prime ministers of both countries

well as the Vietnamese partners. “We have all embarked on this with open minds, our partners are keen and so are we and put together I am confident the results will be good.” The plans are expected to pro-vide great value to the local society in the Vang Tau area, generating workplaces and income and transfer-ring knowledge and experience to

local suppliers and partners. Considering the fact that Vietnam is seen to be one of the most promis-ing markets for drilling activities in SE Asia, the strategic placement of Vang Tau would allow it to bid for most rigs. Market analysis indicates that 2013 will carry good potential for rig upgrades in Vietnam and Hans-Peter Jørgensen believes that Vang Tau will carry a competitive edge in the

region for years to come by way of the location, a strong workforce and a flexible mindset. Concluding what was seen to be a highly successful day and the fruit of three years of preparations by SEMCO, Mr. Hans-Peter Jørgensen sat himself down on a chair and said smiling, “the way has now been opened for things to get going, this is going to be a stop to stay.”.


Princess Marie of Denmark has recently paid a charity visit to Cambodia. On 9 October 2012, the Prin-cess met with important

Danish and Cambodian business people to support Danish business activities in Cambodia. The first exiting meeting was in the evening in restaurant Deco in Phnom Penh. “It is a pleasure to be together with the Danish and Cambodian business people. I hope the relationship will continue to strengthen between the two countries,” Princess Marie said. The Princess is married to the Danish Prince Joachim. Princess

“Go4BC is a Cambodian Offshore Marine Fuel Oil Business that lever-ages Danish Marine Fuel expertise with local Cambodian partners,” he said. “Cambodia is well on its way to developing the Oil & Gas Sector offshore / onshore, as well as other resources and commodities. Go4BC believes that with our successful track record and strong industry experi-ence, we can contribute to a positive development of the Maritime Sector through our Cambodia Offshore Marine Fuel Oil Base, Tommy Chris-tensen added. Tommy Christensen saw the

Marie is born French and the couple has two children. Danish Ambassador Mikael Hem-niti Winther said in his welcome speech that there is an intense cooperation between Cambodia and Denmark. It was his hope that this cooperation would continue to develop. Princess Marie performed on 10 October 2012 the official opening of the Danish company Go4Business at Hotel Cambodiana in Phnom Penh. Tommy Christensen, the CEO and partner in the company, explained in his speech the business idea of the company.

coming Asean Free Trade zone as a positive opportunity. “The Go4BC concept will help position Cambodia strongly within the Maritime Sector which is crucial for trading. Cambodia can demon-strate it is in control of its own well-developed infrastructure, transport and logistics sectors. These sectors are heavily represented by Danish companies like DAMCO and Maersk Line who also have a mission to assist the development of Cambodia and generate sustainable businesses be-tween Danish and Cambodian Indus-tries through education, transfer of knowledge and technology,” he said.

Princess Marie meets Danish businessmen in CambodiaBy Indius Pedersen


Skiing 1000 km in Thailand for charity

Three “crazy pension-ers” - Karl Fred (Kalle) Kristensen and Kjell Isak Sunde from Norway and Peter from Sweden

- started on 15 October 2012 on a ski run in Chiangrai in the far north of Thailand that over the next 18 days took them down through the northern and central provinces of Thailand, through the capital Bang-kok and further down to the sea-side city of Pattaya. A total of 1000 kilometers. On Friday 2 November, the tough Scandinavian skiers were greeted by over a hundred Norwe-gians as they rolled into Pattaya with Thai police escort on the last leg of their legendary trip. It is safe to say without any research that their feat is for sure the longest ski-trip ever in Thailand, possible also the only one ever un-dertaken in all of South East Asia. At least regarding the two Norwegians, who were using roller skis - while the third runner was skating on roll-erblades. “The boys have been going faster than planned and the equipment worked out as well,” says Rediar who

was in charge of the equipment. The equipment held up pretty well all the way, and only Peter had to replace a wheel once. The team also avoided accidents, - barring one close encounter with some elephants! Kjell, who hadn’t seen Kalle for almost 10 years, found out about the “madness” and had travelled to Thailand to be part of it.

So, what was the reason for this madness? Kalle is a 67-year-old “young at heart” who has been roller-skiing in Thailand for the past eight years. Some may have seen him roller-skiing around in his former home-town, Jomtien, where pedestrians and cars alike would stop and stare at this strange “skiing man”. Ever since moving from Pattaya to Chiang Mai four years ago, Kalle Kristensen has nurtured his idea of roller-skiing from Chiang Rai back to Pattaya. At the same time, he could give back a little to the Thai society.The charity aim of the trip was to support education and specifically to support a local school in the small vil-lage of Mai Siwalai in Chiang Rai, which is in dire need of upgrading and fixes.

Mai Siwalai is the small school that Kalle’s wife and most of her family members attended when they were children. The school is located near their home and also close to his heart. More desks and chairs, as well as a computer and perhaps a small library are some of the things the children at Mai Siwalai would greatly benefit from. Kalle is in no doubt that the best way of offering children the chance of a brighter future is through education.

Fantastic experienceThe three Scandinavians said it had been an exhausting trip, but at the same time a fantastic experience. In each and every district they were given a Thai police escort which ensured a safe and smooth passage through traffic. A lot of Thais also provided support by cheering them on, although they were puzzled as this was something they had never seen before and probably something to talk about for years to come.

By Rose Jensen


Swedish learning institute within leadership, innovation and digital media “Hyper Island” has recently opened in Singapore.

By Maria Rita SkogPhotos by Daniel Persson, Flowpix pte Ltd.

Swedish learning institute Hyper Island, successfully held its first ‘Open Day’ on Saturday 17 November 2012, after opening the

Singapore Campus in October. After being nicknamed the “digital Harvard”, Managing Director Christina Andersson says the journey towards the opening has been successful since getting the offices this year. “We’re here because this region is bubbling with creativity and an en-trepreneurial spirit, and that is exactly what the Hyper Island is all about,” she says. According to Andersson, Hyper Island has come to understand the benefits of Singapore’s location, its educational infrastructure, its talent and collective aspiration to achieve its full potential, whether as an indi-vidual, industry, city or nation. Hyper Island is also in Singapore to learn from this culture and its

market place to truly understand the profound societal changes across Asia. Applications are being made online and potential future students call and email Hyper Island frequently, wanting to know about the programs. “We will start with our Special-ist Diploma Interactive Art Director program in March next year. It is one of our most popular programs run-ning in Stockholm,” says Andersson. After its big open day on the November 17, over a hundred visi-tors showed interest in Hyper Island. The Next Open Day will be SaturdayJanuary 12. “We had one of our App Mak-ers Cafe events running throughout the event to show people how we do things instead of just telling them about it. We like people to experi-ence Hyper Island” says Andersson. She informs ScandAsia that the students applying to Hyper Island are mainly between 20 and 35 years

Hyper Island in Singapore


old, with a passion for innovation and creativity and who really wish to excel in the communications industry. “We look for potential in every-one who applies. People will ideally be very self-motivated go-getting; who really want to understand digital and what it means for individuals and the whole of society,” says Andersson.

The SwedishnessFounded in Sweden in 1996, Hyper Island started off with one campus in Karlskrona, and has since grown internationally the last 17 years. Following Karlskrona, Hyper Island is today located in Stockholm, Manchester, New York and now Singapore. “We are very proud of our Swedish heritage. So much that we actually say we are a Swedish global company. It runs through everything that we do, from the brand to the meth-

odology, to how we work together and with our students and clients, to how we set up the organisation. How we work together is rather a Swedish way compared with how Singaporean companies and schools are - we bring quite a Swedish mind-set to education and work culture,” says Andersson. Feedback given at the Open Day on November 17 showed that people are excited about Hyper Island’s opening in Singapore. They expressed that they have been waiting for something different in this educational space. “I think they are very interested in the different ways of learning. There are obviously some great universities but Hyper Island is here to offer something different,” says Andersson. The Swedish Higher Educational Institution in Singapore can also ben-efit the island’s workforce.

“We are catching the attention of employers and they cannot wait, they want to get our students even more. At the moment there is a lack of people with digital knowledge, hence why Hyper Island is here,” she says. Singapore is a destination known for its technology courses, design and business schools, but Andersson believes that Hyper Island operates differently. “Our methodology at Hyper Island is ‘learning by doing’. This means that our students work with live briefs from the industry and develop campaigns and ideas with advertising agencies and their clients” says Andersson.

Hyper Island 2013Hyper Island will start next year with their first Specialist Diploma Interactive Art Director program. The school also aims to launch two

Hyper Island in Singapore

master’s programs in digital and media management, both part-time and full-time. Hyper Island also plans to offer executives education and develop-ments within corporate organizations that work with business transforma-tion in a digital world. As an educational institution, Hyper Island focuses on industry needs, meaning that their programs adapt and change according to the developments in the commu-nications industry. By doing this, students are more likely to have knowledge that is relevant and up to date. Hyper Island creates intensive, short and long courses within ex-periential environments for both individuals and organisations. For industry professionals and those seeking a career change, Hyper Island will start its classes in March 2013 at its premises on Alexandra Road.


Only one Chinese company, CG Crystal, a digital imaging firm, paid to be part of the London Olympics. Many of today’s Chinese companies are flush with cash. Yet its corporate chiefs don’t seem ready to splurge on a global marketing opportunity like the London games. Morten Sellaeg, Vice president at Shankai Sports international, a Chinese Sport Marketing firm explains why.

By Alexandra Leyton

Nanjing RoadSouth Bund Fabric Market

ineffective investment, says Sellaeg. “In 2010, Yingli Green Energy became the first Chinese company and the first renewable energy company to sponsor the FIFA World Cup. They got great media coverage because they were the first Chinese company to ever sponsor a World cup. For them this was sufficient, for the next FIFA World cup it will be much harder to receive such me-dia exposure, and you can expect greater competition from other global Chinese brands,” Sellaeg adds. Still, Sellaeg believes that the sport market in China has a great future. Chinese passion for sports is huge and the sporting goods market is worth USD 6 billion and is ex-pected to grow 14 percent a year, according to China Sporting Goods Federation. While Nike remains the market leader, homegrown brands are catch-ing up. China’s 1.3 billion potential fans are also irresistible to sports

“In general sports market-ing in China, sponsoring specifically, works like it did in the west 20 years ago. Companies back

then would sponsor a football team due to personal interest or connec-tion with someone at top manage-ment or to get some media coverage on television or print media. Chinese companies do the same. There is rarely any Marketing and Commu-nication (MarCom) strategy behind their sponsorship decisions, simply because Chinese companies basically see sponsorship as donations or as a media buying. During the Beijing Olympics, many of the sponsors had the right to use the Olympic logo for their MarCom, but didn’t. They didn’t use their rights fully. Very few of these Chinese companies (spon-sors) used the Games as a platform for sales, brand building or to increase their customer base,” Sellaeg says. One explanation to that, accord-

ing to Sellaeg, is that it was politically expedient to play a patriotic role in China’s Olympics. So their sponsor-ship was as much about government relations as consumer branding. Sellaeg worked for one of the biggest international sports market-ing agencies ‘Octagon Nordic’ in Stockholm prior to his trip to China 5 years ago. On behalf of Octagon, he had worked on a very successful commercial venture at the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-6 for Ericsson. In January 2007, he was offered the opportunity in China to take responsibility for their Sponsorship Consulting department. “For me it was a ‘no brainer’. It took me two days to make my decision and I was on site just over a month after I met the manager for Octagon Asia in Stockholm. My first impression of China was overwhelm-ing; I knew it was a fast developing country with a one-party political system. But I knew China was head-

ing in the right direction and I saw improvements, which was one of the reasons they got the Olympics. I thought my daily life would be much harder, this was completely wrong. I found tremendous curiosity among Chinese people and drive, everything was possible. It was definitely the right time to be here,” Sellaeg says. Chinese companies have not re-ally grasped Sponsorship as a tool for MarCom, according to Sellaeg. He says that maybe because it requires more than just buying some air time or certain advertising for an event on television. Sponsorship takes a lot of commitment which also requires additional investment. People who work in the industry in China focus mainly on getting the brand on televisions. They don’t see the positive side of building contacts, brand awareness, brand preference or having a local presence. In the long run, sponsorship that is used only as advertisement could become an

The future ofsport marketingThe future ofsport marketingin China


a decision made is time consuming. This sometimes affects business negatively, especially in terms of ef-ficiency, rationality and the process behind investment decisions. In China, you can have a great idea but not even be considered by the boss because you don’t have the right connections. In Sweden, this is different in every aspect as it’s your business mind that counts not who you know. Private and business rela-tions coincide in China,” Sellaeg says.“I can never overestimate how much patience you need to have in China. It takes a lot of time to see results from investments. But you build a good network, get to know interest-ing people. In the future, I would like to be involved in developing a glob-ally recognized Chinese trade mark, where sports marketing and sponsor-ship is part of a MarCom platform. On a private level, I would like to learn Chinese language, at least on a conversational level,” Sellaeg adds.

are ready to invest internationally such as Lenovo, Huawei, UnionPay and Haier. I believe these kinds of companies will notice that advertising is not enough for the global market, and find other platforms to reach their target customers. And there is no better way to have a local pres-ence or build business to business than sponsorship,” Sellaeng adds. After five years in China, one of the biggest challenges for Sellaeg has been to understand the decision mak-ing process in China as it is often time consuming and complicated. In China, most business decisions are made by CEO or even owners and to reach them takes time and patience, he says. “In Sweden, it’s not as difficult to reach the CEO of a company. In China, unless you’ve already established relationships with him or her, it’s almost impossible. One certain individual in a company has most of the power. Therefore, to reach that certain person and have

Nanchang Road

sentially help Chinese companies who want to build their trade mark globally through sponsorship of inter-national leagues, teams and athletes. A year ago he began working for Shankai International, a Chinese sport marketing company where he is re-sponsible for sponsorship consulting and sponsorship sales. Right now the company is working with the World Cup in Brazil 2014. “More and more Chinese com-panies want to expand their business internationally. They have learned from other Asian companies like Samsung that Sports Marketing is a great communication tool to reach the international market effectively. China has more international sports stars in Basketball, Golf, Sailing, Swim-ming and etc. Since many people follow these sports, Chinese compa-nies are more interested in investing (sponsoring) these sports and these athletes,” Sellaeg says. “These must be companies that

leagues and thus, sponsorship will give them a local partner in the market. “The Olympics gave the market a boost and generally speaking, the industry has evolved, though not to the level of the international sports market-ing practice. Anyway, we have also seen several interesting investments by Chinese companies in international sports rights,” Sellaeg says. The strategy of boosting im-age through sponsorship of foreign athletes began in China with Li Ning, which signed its first top-level star, Shaquille O’Neal, in 2006. The com-pany, founded by the Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast of the same name, now sponsors far-flung teams such as the Swedish Olympics delega-tion and the Spanish and Argentinean basketball squads. So far, the Chinese have been conservative and signed only established players in hopes of maximizing their investments. Today, Sellaeg works to es-


Bright future for logistics business China’s fast-growing economy has caught the attention of investors from all around the world. The rapid expansion of the country’s industrial base and the rise of domestic consumer markets have made its logistics sector grow at an extraordinary rate.

By Alexandra Leyton

One of the logistics companies growing in China is Project Expeditors Group. Finnish Sebastian

Nummelin, the Branch Manager of the company’s office in Beijing, has remarked a steady growth in the market since the company first opened in Shanghai in 2007. “Our presence in China has made our business grow in Finland. China is the world’s biggest supplier of fabrics and many of the products we deliver are made in China and needed to be transported forward,” Nummelin says. The company works on a Freight Forward basis, meaning that the company works with other partners and subcontractors, who help them with the logistics and distribution. “We don’t have our own trans-port vehicles or inventories in China, the only place we use our own vehicles is in Finland. We tailor a package for each customer according to their needs,” Nummelin says. The concept of logistics man-agement is new in China. Logistics has traditionally been viewed as a transportation service, and the majority of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) continued to handle this as an in-house function. As a result of self-management and localized op-erational footprints, transportation and logistics operations are highly fragmented. “The biggest challenge for foreign companies is to tap the local market. It’s mainly because our prices are higher and so is the threshold of communication between us and our Chinese customers. But Chinese companies know that the foreign companies tend to offer better quality. Our company has worked with customers in countries that are new to the logistics market such as Kazakhstan and Mongolia. With our extensive experience, I believe we have an advantage on how to deal with a new market such as China,” Nummelin says. The pace of regulatory change has been affected by the fact that

many government departments are involved in regulations relating to the sector. Coupled with the competitive advantages of local players, foreign investment is taking time to gain wide spread traction. “To get into the local market, you have to build good ‘guanxi’ relation-ships. You need people to introduce you to the right people that can give you the right contacts, especially with government officials. 100 percent of the Chinese railway is owned by the government, a transportation form which is very important for logistics. You may have to work a long time to reach your targets compared with the European market. In China, business often comes after you have established a strong personal relation-ship with your customers. Here, you need to be more personal and aware of your partner or customer than just sit in a meeting and discuss business, especially in the case of larger sums of money. The personal relationships is much more important here than in Sweden,” Nummelin says. According to Nummelin, the vast majority of business for the company comes from the movement of in-dustrial products, mainly the paper industry. Foreign and foreign-invested companies have typically cornered the express delivery, sea freight forward-ing and specialized logistics services and have gained a strong presence in a number of cities across China. As a result, many have seen sales increased by as much as 30 percent over the past few years. The efficient distribution of goods and finished products is one of the biggest challenges associated with China’s rapid growth. Greater strain has been placed on its transport, storage and distribution networks. “Since we opened up our new office in China, we have been able to grow in Finland. The Chinese market is very interesting; the projects here are bigger in volume and have high market potential. Recently, local Chi-nese companies have expanded their businesses to Europe, Asia and the United States, which will be good for logistics business,” Nummelin says.

“Even though the economic growth has decreased, it doesn’t have affected us significantly. However, companies have become more price-sensitive than before. The price of air freight has slightly gone down over the past few years while the price of sea freight has increased dramatically. The competition is fierce, there are many listed companies. We don’t want to be the biggest logistics com-pany in China; we want to focus on good service instead. The relation-ship between customers and big logistics firms usually becomes too bureaucratic,” Nummelin says. Nummelin arrived in the king-dom five years ago as an exchange student in Shanghai. Then he moved to Beijing to study Chinese language. And when Project Expeditor Group was looking for a Branch manager for its new office in Beijing, he took the chance. Embracing the Chinese business culture has never been a problem for him. Nummelin is fluent in Chinese and that helps with the communications. “I have learned that late nights singing Karaoke can enhance business relationships. I remember going out with the ‘big boss’ of my previous company. The next day my col-leagues treated me more respectful and so did other bosses at work. Per-sonal relationships are that important in China,” he says.

Bright future for logistics business in China

We don’t want to be the biggest

logistics company in China; we want

to focus on good service instead. The

relationship between customers and

big logistics firms usually becomes too

bureaucratic.


Bright future for logistics business Bright future for logistics business in China


Strengthening the Nordic business communityMr. Per Brandt, Chairman of Swedish Business Association (SBA) in Indonesia, has been in Indonesia for over 20 years. With an increasing number of Scandinavian establishments in the fast-growing economy, Mr. Brandt aims to strengthen the Nordic business community.

By Wachiraporn Janrut


Strengthening the Nordic business community

Doing bus iness in another country is always a challenge as it requires not only business knowledge

and a good interpreter, but also understanding of local protocols, business culture and many other dif-ferences. In many cases, however, good connections could be the main factor leading a business to success. An organization that connects Swed-ish businesses in Indonesia together is Swedish Business Association (SBA). Initiated by Mr. Per Brandt and other prominent Swedish business people in Indonesia, SBA was estab-lished in 2000 to connect Swedish businesses in Indonesia. As one of the founders, Mr. Brandt was on the board since the beginning and within two years became chairman. This year Mr. Brandt has been ap-pointed to be chairman of SBA again. With his 20 years’ experience in the country, Mr. Brandt speaks fluent Indonesian and has a good under-standing of local business practices. “We have a lot of business con-tacts and experiences here that we want to share with our members. We also arrange events and activities for our members to get together to share experiences and exchange views and opinions with each other,” says Mr. Brandt.

About Per Brandt Mr. Brandt visited Indonesia for the first time in 1991 on a business trip. Since then he travelled to the coun-try for business regularly and later moved to Indonesia permanently in 1993 after being appointed as a president for the Swedish chemical group Perstorp. Currently, he is Regional Director

at CombiBox Systems which is the company supplying in-ground sup-port systems for aircrafts at airports and in maintenance hangars. According to Mr. Brandt, there were just over ten Swedish compa-nies in Indonesia when he first arrived in Jakarta. Many of them, however, have had their establishments in the country for a long time. One example is Swedish brand Ericson which has been in the country since 1907. Having seen the development of the country’s economy and Scandina-vian business interests here over the years, Mr. Brandt believes the country has great business potential. “I think there are many more people including Scandinavians com-ing to Indonesia because it happens to be the biggest country in ASEAN. Business in Indonesia is booming in all sectors now and many Swedes like us have become aware that Indonesia is the place to be,” says Mr. Brandt. Despite the competition from an increasing number of interna-tional companies doing business in Indonesia, the Scandinavian business community keeps getting stronger. “It’s important for us to work together with people whom we can trust. And I think we can trust our Nordic friends as we speak the same language and share the same culture,” adds Mr. Brandt.

SBA’s activities To strengthen the network, SBA arranges various activities for mem-bers to join. One regular networking event is the ‘Swedish Pea Soup’, held on the second Wednesday of every month. Though it is organized by SBA, Mr. Brandt says that the event has become more like a Scandinavian networking since participants tend to

be many Swedes and their Nordic friends. Apart from its regular networking event, SBA also organizes events like the annual Jakarta Viking Christmas lunch, Christmas party and seminars such as CSR event. Moreover, SBA works together with the Swedish embassy to promote activities of Swedish companies throughout Indonesia. “The Ambassador and I made a number of trips to promote Swedish business activities in many provinces in Indonesia including remote areas like East Kalimantan and Papua,” says Mr. Brandt. On top of the benefits from having access through all of SBA’s events, members can also benefit from various discounts offered from hotels and restaurants.

Nordic Business ForumEarly this year Mr. Brandt and his Scandinavian business partners founded another platform called “Nordic Business Forum” for Scan-dinavian companies to get together. More than just for business gather-ings, Nordic Business Forum offers a platform with many events and activities for members to enjoy on a personal level. Each Nordic country arranges a big annual event of its own. For example, Danish members organize a big Christmas party in January and Norwegians arrange a seafood event in the end of the year. For Swedes, Mr. Brandt says that the decision is not made yet but he’d like to arrange an exciting food event. “We are trying to get our Nor-dic neighbours closer together. We hope that the Nordic Business Forum will make our community even stron-ger,” says Mr. Brandt.


You can’t save the worldbut you can make a difference!

Katrine and Kia became volunteers through the Danish Volunteer Aid agency, which refers volunteers to eight different project in Thailand. Five of the projects are run by the Good Shepherd Sisters.

Katrine and Kia have paid approximately 16.000 DKR for air ticket, insurance, vaccination and fee to Volunteer Aid. http://www.volunteeraid.dk

The Good Shepherd Sisters in Nongkhai, have accompanied the poor, offering opportunities by which people can help themselves, for the past 31 years.

Village Outreach ProgramA holistic approach to healing...and a holistic approach to living.•Advocacyandtransportation•Milkforchildrenage0-2•Teachinghomecarenursing•Supporttorelativesraisingchildren who have lost their parents•Houserenovationandconstruction•Micro-financeforhomeenterprises

Hands of HopeDignified employment for those living with HIV/Aids

Garden of Friendship•Nursingandhospicecare•Longtermandemergency accommodation for outcasts

Contact:Good Shepherd Sisters, 916 Prachak Rd, Nong Khai, Tel. +66 042 411861, [email protected]


You can’t save the worldChildren infected with HIV, adults with Aids and families affected by HIV/Aids, have been part of Kia’s and Katrine’s everyday life for the last four months. They are volunteers at the Good Shepherd’s centre in Nong Khai.

By Kim Birkkjaer LundPhoto by Jan Mouritsen

but you can make a difference!

“I chose to be a volunteer for my own benefit, for personal growth and I wanted to become part of Thai society. Don’t

fool yourself to believe you can save the world but you can make a differ-ence in someone’s life.” The words belong to 26-year- old Katrine Uhrskov Larsen. She is a graduate pedagog and has chosen to leave job, family and friends for half a year to experience the life of less for-tunate people: Poor families infected with HIV in Isaan - the Northeastern part of Thailand - at the Good Shep-herd Friendship Centre. Katrine is one of two Danish volunteers at the centre. The other, 24 year old Kia Elten Madsen, chose to be a volunteer to get some prac-tical experience in her otherwise very theoretical education in health science. “I had just finished my bachelor and wanted a break to work practical with health as a volunteer before I start at my master’s degree. Organi-zation is part of my degree program, so I find it interesting to see how the Good Shepherds have built their or-ganization and how it works.”

Unprejudiced nunsNone of the two young women knew the Good Shepherd Sisters be-fore they came to Thailand and they aren’t religious either. They both

chose the Good Shepherd because the period of 6 months suited them. Formal religion fills almost noth-ing in their everyday work. “I had expected they would be stricter, not recognise gays and condemn sex outside marriage, but they are much unprejudiced. Here you are accepted as the person you are,” says Katrine. They have been invited to a few Christian ceremonies but not pres-sured to attend. So far they have chosen to take part, mostly out of curiosity, and it has been appreci-ated as a sign of having open minds by the nuns.

No specific dutiesKia and Katrine work in separated week shifts. One week in a Good Shepherd income generating proj-ect – ‘Hands of Hope’ and then one a week in the Good Shepherd’s Care Centre. “Most patients at the Care Cen-tre are transferred from hospitals. They may have been treated for TB and when moved to the Care Cen-tre, we start the HIV medication and observe if the medication causes any complication,” says Katrine. “When we first came it was a bit frustrating because we didn’t have specific duties. It was difficult to see how we could be useful, but then you realise how important it is just being present and available to

the patients,” Kia tells. Katrine has learned that to make a difference, you’ve got to give atten-tion to the needs of the patients and to take initiatives to do activities. “We have a young man with TB of the brain at the centre. He has a tendency to just sleep all day. I de-cided to acquire a ball and started to play ball with him, and he is actu-ally very good at it. Initiatives benefit the outcome for both patients and volunteers,” says Katrine.

Sharing life and deathThose weeks where they work in “Hands of Hope” they either par-ticipate in the production which generates an income for 37 women and men, accompany people to hospitals for examinations or visit families in some of the 58 villages in the outreach program. Meeting families in the villages has made a huge impression on Kia. “The love I have met from peo-ple who don’t know me is amazing. They invite us into their homes and though they are unbelievably poor, they offer you whatever they have.” To Katrine the death of a fe-male patient at the Care Centre has made the greatest impression. “She just gave up and stopped taking her medicine and died a few days later at the hospital,” Katrine tells. None of them had experienced death before. “Just a week before, she had been sitting here in her wheelchair playing dominoes with me, and now she was dead,” Kia says Her death and funeral were very different from anything the two Dan-ish girls ever had experienced before. “The funeral was surreal to us, because we didn’t understand what was going on. We were served soft drinks and the deceased’s daugh-ter and mother smiled and seemed happy. Then they poured gasoline on the deceased, set her on fire and pushed her into a crematorium. And finally they threw out candy, as we do at last day of school back home. It was a very special experience.” Their English speaking supervisor was sick at the time and not able to

attend the funeral and explain what was happening. She has subsequently explained the Buddhist rites for Kia and Katrine ensuring that they under-stand that every bit of a Thai funeral has an explanation.

English for childrenEvery second Saturday the volun-teers teach the children affiliated with the project English. 85 children are part of the project because someone in their family is infected by HIV. 29 of them are infected themselves. Because the project covers a large geographic area, not all of them are able to attend the learning programme each time. “Each volunteer has their own group of children, which forms a very close relationship with the chil-dren. We teach by playing, making it a very different experience for the children than their usual school day,” says Katrine.

An evolving experience Neither Kia nor Katrine are young globetrotters. It is their first time in Asia and both anticipate living their lives in Denmark, though Kia is con-sidering doing a semester of her master’s degree in Australia. “I don’t think I will be a volunteer again, but I will for sure recommend others to do so. It is a very special and evolving experience. And I do want to come back to Nong Khai to visit the project,” says Katrine. They both find that being a vol-unteer has changed them. The difference in mentality be-tween Thais and Danes has required Katrine to break down some barriers. “At home, the individual is most important, while here the commu-nity is the main thing. Keeping to yourself and keeping distance from others are not considered positive here. It has been a challenge to be so open and intimate as people are here,” Katrine admits. Kia believes that being a volun-teer has made her less materialistic. “Right now I think my vision of the world has changed a lot. I hope that it is a lasting change, which will keep when I return to Denmark.”


It’s a challenge to mix people and see if it works

and I love to be a hostess and to

meet new people.

Irresistible Agneta

Teeming with energy, Agneta Bekassy de Bekas enjoys involving herself in more activities than most other people would dream of.



It’s Sunday morning. The time is a few minutes before 10 am and a motorbike taxi stops in front of The Rainbow Room in Sukhumvit Soi 38. An elegant

woman jumps off with an attitude of a young girl and rushes inside. The elegant woman is Agneta Bekassy de Bekas. Three times each week she works as a volunteer in The Swedish School Association, teaching children the Swedish language. “I just have to do something,” she tells me when we meet inside minutes later. “I can’t just lie at the pool.” Agneta is teeming with energy. Even before my notebook is out of my bag she is telling me about the Swedish School Association, her friend’s new fashion company, about being a model again as a mature woman, her first encounter with Thailand and much more. Agneta moves fast and you better keep up with the pace if you don’t want to be left behind. “At the moment we teach here on Sundays and at three other inter-national Schools during the week in the afternoons. We expect a fourth school to join soon.” The Swedish community in Bangkok is huge and fast growing. More than 4,000 Swedes are living in Bangkok, and many got children. “We got 23 children coming on Sundays in the age range from three to 12 years. I have the easy ones, the older children. I’m not that good with the smallest one,” Agneta confides. This Sunday, Agneta and her colleagues don’t know how many, if any, will attend class. It’s autumn vacation at the international schools and Tuesday is a national holiday in Thailand so many families are taking an extended weekend. But while we are talking, parents with children begin to arrive. The children start to play while their parents settle in the garden. It’s school – but with a touch of Sunday.

Living abroadAgneta was only 19 when she left Sweden with her first husband and since then the whole world has been her stage. Thailand has always had a special place in her heart. She was only 16 when she won a model competition and was asked about her dreams for the future. She answered: “I want to travel to Thailand and I want to have a big Old English Sheepdog.” She did travel to Thailand (and she also had the dog). She went first time in 1977 with her first husband and she immediately fell in love with the coun-try. But it wasn’t Thailand that became her new resident country. Agneta and her second husband Stefan Bekassy de Bekas met in Zurich and Switzerland was their home for some 30 years. But throughout the years they have been regular visitors to Thailand.

Fashion conscious“Fashion has always been important for me. In Switzerland I had a firm selling high-end fashion items and during one of our visits to Thailand I found a beautiful collection named Khanitha which created silk dresses with a very European cut. For 10 years I had an amazing collabora-tion with the owner and founder of Khanitha - an absolutely fabulous Thai lady. Then her husband decided to enter the business and after four months there was no business any-more,” she said somewhat pointedly. While Agneta often experienced delays and delivery problems when dealing with Swedish fashion com-panies she never once experienced a delayed delivery from her Thai business partner. Fashion still has a huge space in Agneta’s life. She has been advising the US brand Marisa Baratelli, creat-ing fabulous Thai silk dresses with the same style as the Khanitha brand. Agneta has also made reappear-ances as a model. Her friend Anika Julin has recently launched a new

fashion brand ByNika specialising in stylish beachwear which can be used not only on the beach but also on a Sunday morning in the Swedish school, as Agneta proves by wearing a kaftan from ByNika this morning. Anika asked Agneta to be a model for her new brand. Agneta not only agreed to be model but also provided her favourite photographer, Ameri-can Daniel Herron, with whom she worked on other projects including the online magazine LASPLASH.com. “I was away from modelling for many years but then I was asked and it was fun so why not? Now I’m doing a fashion show as a model for International Women’s Club. I cannot get away from fashion.”

Both Swedish and internationalEven if Agneta left Sweden more than 35 years ago, being a Swede is still important for her. She founded the Switzerland branch of SWEA (Swed-ish Women’s Educational Association) and was its president for four years. She has also been president of the Bangkok branch for two years. “It’s so important for me to keep in touch with friends both in Sweden and in Switzerland. I visit Sweden at least once a year and then I got my hotel ‘business’,” she tells with a smile. An expression that covers the popularity a visit in Bangkok has among her European friends when winter hits Europe with darkness and below zero temperatures. But Agneta is not only Swedish; she is international as well. Recently she had a dinner party where they were 10 persons around the table representing eight nationalities. “That’s fun. It’s a challenge to mix people and see if it works and I love to be a hostess and to meet new people. It’s very easy to meet new people in Bangkok, especially farangs, because we need each other much more here.” To fulfil her need for meeting new interesting people she also

joined the International Women’s Club (IWC) in Bangkok. “Because IWC is so much big-ger than SWEA, they offer more events and other kinds of events. Every month we have a ‘get to know you’ arrangement’ where we visit an embassy and hear about the country. It’s very educational.”

Daughter prefers EuropeWhen Agneta and her husband moved to Thailand in 2006 the main reason was a wish to give their daugh-ter Vanessa an opportunity to get to know her country and its culture. “When we didn’t get any chil-dren on our own, my husband and I decided to adopt. At that time we had a very good connection with the Red Cross in Thailand so we had the possibility to adopt a child there. Having a Thai-born child made us feel even closer to Thailand.” In Bangkok Vanessa went to St. Andrews International School which, according to Agneta, was very good for her. But being brought up in small idyllic village outside Zurich she soon found the noisy and crowded Bangkok unbearable. “She asked if she could go to boarding school in England and I really didn’t want her to go. But my husband went to boarding school himself so he said that it would be good for her and I had to give in. So she is a pupil at Trinity School, a boarding school in Devon, and she just loves it.” Their daughter choosing Europe for the time being hasn’t made the Bekassy’s consider leaving Thailand. “I think we are going to stay here for good. We sold everything we had in Switzerland and Sweden when we moved here. We maybe someday buy something in Hungary. My husband’s family are originally from Hungary. Both my daughter and I love horse riding and horse riding in Hungary is fantastic, so we maybe someday buy a small house there. But we will never leave Thailand.”


Design for change


The purpose is not to exploit the brain or cheap labour

but to make an educational profitable exchange

programme. Our plan is to set up a studio in Thailand

with Thai partners, where we will further educate young

Thai designers.

Denmark’s award-winning designer Timothy Jacob Jensen considers opening a design studio to help educate young designers in Thailand.

By Sippachai Kunnuwong

“When you’re from the country and you make it big

in the city, they say you’re lucky,” said chief designer and CEO of Denmark’s leading design studio, Timothy Jacob Jensen. But his long list of works – products, architec-tures, graphics and so on – have proved that it took more than just sheer lucks or a family’s heritage to influence design industry around the world with that ‘simple, sleek, Scan-dinavian’ touch. A son of Danish renowned designer Jacob Jensen, Timothy is now sharing his fortune of knowl-edge to young designers across the continents. In August this year, he

Is it a private design studio for yourself? What’s the purpose of it?The purpose, as we’ve done in Shanghai recently, is not to exploit the brain or cheap labour but to make an educational profitable ex-change programme. So our plan is to set up a studio in Thailand with Thai partners, where we will further educate young Thai designers. But not so much as a lecture or school but as a real studio. We want to bring in young Thai designers so they can learn some more and help raise the living standard in Thailand.

Who will be the customers?We would serve probably Thai-land, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. There will be all kinds of clients. It could be products, architecture, graphics, and serial manufacture – it could be anything because we pret-ty much cover everything. But to bring young Thai design-ers into our team, they have to be bachelor’s degree students. Other-wise, we can’t use them and give them our guidance. We don’t guide them only theoretically but hands-on: ‘You have to meet the deadline, you have to meet the budget and we’re going to deliver!’ It has to be world-class.

Why did you choose Thailand?For various reasons, first of all, I love this country. I first came to this country in 1989 as a bag-pack tourist and I felt in love with it, the people, the Buddhism, the food, the ecstatics. It’s wonderful! And of course as I was told that people here are wealthier, ev-erybody wants what the American have in the 50s, what we (the Dan-ish) had in the 60s, what the Japa-nese had in the 70s and so forth. The economy is growing and I want to contribute. Of course, I have to make money to pay salary. But my main purpose here is that I want to make beauty and lift a living standard of

this country. It’s totally legitimate for all of us in this planet to have as good life as I had when I grew up in the 60s. We want to give our kids a better life and more opportuni-ties than we had ourselves. So that’s what this project is about.

How can the project benefit Thai design industry or Thai society as a whole?We would create a curriculum for our programme but together with the Thai design scenes. We’re go-ing to do the right thing. And with our methods and history, I think we can contribute to make Thai design even better, help the young gen-eration of Thai designers to have broader outlook, to make a better product. For Thai industry, they sell more products, people pay more taxes, and you lift up the society.

Can young designers from other countries join the programme as well?Yes, we would have an international team but we want to build up with a Thai educational partner, Thai uni-versities offering design courses, a programme where young designers come to work with us for a year or two and then they become masters under Jacob Jensen. It is about people from this re-gion but if there’s a young man from Sweden who wants to be here for a year, he can also do that.

When will it open?Maybe never. It depends. I’ll only do it if I have an educational part-ner and a local investor and myself. (Jensen held an exclusive business event to meet business delegates on 8 November 2012). If Thailand is ready for that and they like us, we can put it together maybe next year.

Will there be similar studios opening in other countries in the future?We’re considering Mumbai and Ca-petown our next destinations.

opened a sister studio in Shanghai on the grounds of Shanghai Institute of Visual Art and he’s aiming to do the same in Thailand. ScandAsia catches up with Jen-sen while he is on a trip in Bangkok to launch the new products he col-laborated with Toshiba – the smart televisions ‘RW1T’ series – and right before he meets local investors and universities, possibly partners for his project to uplift Thailand through designs.

Tell me about your plan toopen a design studio in Thailand.Well, we’re investigating the oppor-tunity, if we can find the right part-ners in Thailand to open up – yes, we would like to do that.


Great Food Great People

In Krabi Town the Danish owned restaurant Café Europa has been serving its delicious food to the people in Krabi Province for the last 22 years. But the restaurant is much more than a place to eat, as the three owners and friends have become an institution in the local community.

By Dennis Krog

At Café Europa in Krabi town you are met by a somewhat dark room with dim light. The ta-bles are covered with

checkered red tablecloths, which have a single candle light placed in the middle. The main color on the wooden furniture is a warm brown one, broken by the many legendary print commercials covering the walls. The restaurant itself is not big. The menu could have been – except from a few dishes – taking out of a Danish restaurant fifty years ago. In many ways it feels like you have taken the famous DeLorean car from the movies ‘Back to the future’ and set the date to take you back to the time where frikadeller (meat balls) and good old homemade Danish food was preferred over pizza and burgers. Here in these cozy surroundings you will find Finn, Henrik and Tip, the owners of a restaurant that has grown into an institution in Krabi town.

Founded 22 years agoThe restaurant was founded 22 years ago by the now 66-year-old Finn Rasmussen who opened up Café Eu-ropa together with a friend in 1990. Finn had been visiting Thailand many times, before he decided to open up a restaurant in Krabi. “When traveling around out here I looked for places where I felt at home, and I just had a very good feeling about Krabi town. At that time it was just a nice small place with

great people,” says Finn Rasmussen. One of the great people Finn met was the Thai lady Tip, who had a travel agency. Tip was dating another Dane, Henrik Enevoldsen and all three became friends. The friendship has grown along the years, and even as Henrik and Tip lived in Denmark the couple played a big role at Café Europa, giving advice and helping Finn when needed. In 1995 the business partner of Finn left Café Europa, and after running the place alone for three years Finn persuaded Henrik and Tip to join as partners in 1998. The couple accepted the offer and moved back to Krabi.

Homemade rye breadFinn, Henrik and Tip have themselves visited many Danish restaurants around the world, and many times they have been disappointed with the far from good interpretations of classic Danish dishes they have met. Their experiences have made them decide not to compromise with the food they make. “We want to serve a home cooked meal, and so we do. Our food not only looks home made. It is and tastes home made,” says Henrik Enevoldsen. And the owners are serious when they talk about food made by their own hands in their own kitchen. “I get up in the morning and bake our own rye bread for our open sandwiches (smoerrebroed, ed) and we also make our own liver pâté and rullepoelse (special Danish cold

cut, ed),” says Henrik Enevoldsen, pointing out some of the specialties, which also counts a special dressing. “The Thai guests always want to know the recipe of the garlic dressing, but that is our secret, but they are more than welcome to come here and taste it again and again,” says Henrik with a laugh.

Friends but not drinking buddiesDuring a day at the restaurant you will see several Scandinavians and locals coming by for a bite to eat, but also to talk to the owners, who know almost everybody in the community. “Most of our guests come back again, and in many cases we become personal friends with them. That’s just the way it goes in a small place like this,” says Henrik. And the friendship with the guests is easy to recognize. During the interview one guy came to pick up a credit card, which was delivered to the restaurant from Denmark. Later a regular Danish guest showed up, which made Finn go to his room only to return carrying a lot of books, and the two friends started talking about the books as if they were hav-ing their own little book club. But the friendliness is not re-served for a small group of regulars, as it’s clear to see that it’s just the personality of Finn, Henrik and Tip to welcome everyone with a big smile, and if the guests want to talk, the Danish guys are more than willing


to, but the guests are still guests. ”We might have a beer in the evening when we have closed down, but we are running a serious business here where a nice friendly atmosphere and great food are the cornerstones, but if you are looking for drinking bud-dies then you have to look somewhere else,” says Henrik Enevoldsen.

Visit by Leonardo DiCaprio Next to the bar at the “Scandinavian Embassy in Krabi”, which Café Eu-ropa is called amongst the locals, you will find the hall of fame, with pictures of many famous people, who have visited the restaurant. Especially one

picture on the wall catches the eyes of most guests, as it shows Leonardo DiCaprio posing next to Tip. “They were filming the Beach down here in 1999, and the crew often ate here. Many times they ordered food for Leonardo DiCaprio and brought it back to his hotel,” says Finn. However, the famous actor wanted to visit the restaurant himself, which ended up with Leonardo walk-ing into an almost full Café Europa one evening. “He just came in and ordered a lot of different food. It was so funny, no one even noticed him. One of our other guests that evening actually commented on DiCaprio being in

Krabi, but he didn’t notice Leonardo at the restaurant,” laughs Finn when telling the story. Although nobody noticed the famous actor in the restaurant, Henrik Enevoldsen panicked a little bit as they found out they didn’t have a camera to document the visit. “We borrowed a camera from one of our guests and Leonardo was happy to have his picture taken with Tip. Since then we have always had a camera behind the bar,” says Henrik.

Can’t leave his friends Café Europa has been a part of Finn’s life for many years now, but even though the Dane will turn 67 on his

next birthday, he is not planning to leave Café Europa soon. “We are all really good friends. Every Sunday I go to Henrik’s and Tip’s for a barbeque, and we go on vacation together. I am just not ready to quit yet,” says Finn and smile. But the 46-year-old Henrik knows that there will be a time, where they will have to consider the future of Café Europa. “I don’t think we could ever just close down this place. It’s an institu-tion to both the Thai and Scandina-vian societies here. The challenge will be to find someone who will continue to run the place in the spirit it is running now,” says Henrik.


Promoting Norwegian Seafood in Asia

Norwegian seafood - in particular salmon - has seen massive growth over many consecutive years. From Bali to Beijing, Norway is practically synonymous with seafood.

By Joakim Persson

Christian Chramer is since 2011 head of the Norwegian Seafood Council in South-East Asia, where the brand

is already well established. This job was previously a part time position within NSC but since it was turned into full time job, NSC has increased the budget for market development in this region from 2 million in 2012 to a total of 7 million NOK in 2013.” Christian will remain as the re-gional director for NSC in SEA until the summer of 2014.

Singapore is specialTo cover his area, Christian travels a lot within Asia, but is very happy with having Singapore as his home base. “It’s a fantastic place to be – for many reasons. In many ways it’s a hub – and very important for the food service sector. The tourism role in Singapore, with 13 million tourists coming into Singapore every year, of course gives this market a special flavour when it comes to how the food service sector is developing. So this is very much a showcase for how things can be developed in different markets in the future. That could be Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta or Taipei. “Singapore is special because here you have a strong food service sector, estimated to take up 70 per cent of the salmon coming to Singa-pore from Norway.”


Promoting Norwegian Seafood in Asia

Fresh seafood is the segment where we can make a difference

and supply the market while our competitors will have trouble doing the same.

“You have a tremendous growth in both fine dining, Japanese sushi and sashimi restaurants, international cui-sine being very strong here and also you see an influx from Singapore in the whole region when it comes to trends and also the way people work in professional kitchens. We see Singapore as a very important edu-cational platform – there are many strong chef schools in Singapore that educate for the whole region. So by working with young chefs we create seafood and salmon ambassadors for Norway for generations to come!” Norwegian Salmon exports to Asia show steady growth. The volume in October topped 12,000 tonnes of which 5000 tons were sold to Singapore. Marketing research is the most important thing NSC can do in Sin-gapore, according to Christian, and pushing salmon even higher up on the seafood ladder. That translates into working deeply together with major retailers like Cold Storage on promotions, PR, marketing and other activities to build the sales and long-term commitment to the consumers. Sushi and sashimi is also a strong trend in this region, just as through-out the world, where red salmon is often served. “Fresh seafood is the segment where we can make a difference and supply the market while our competitors will have trouble doing the same,” he says

Search for perfectionChristan Chramer has a background as an officer and information officer in the Norwegian army but he sees more similarities than differences when comparing his job in the army with his current job with NSC. “Especially the professional mind-set of people involved in the seafood industry remind me of my previous job in the army. I’m very proud to see how we all strive for perfection and want to do our very best.” “And seafood is so important to Norway as a country and Nor-wegians as a whole. I feel seafood is gaining attention in many areas of Norway’s public life and that

my colleagues in the company and the people of the industry are re-ally focusing on producing the best possible seafood for the large world community.” “We sell seafood to 150 differ-ent countries so we provide food to enormous amounts of people, which must be safe, healthy and fresh in many instances. And it must be made in the way people would like to have it and available when people would like to consume.” Social media and CSR are also among Christian’s professional in-terests. NSC effectively uses social media for, among other things, corporate communication (recently blogg.seafood.no was also launched) and issues management (it has been the driver in their internal, online Crisis wiki that allows communication in real time in one shared workspace across their 14 global locations.)

Sustainability efforts“As the world leader both in stan-dards, technology and volume it should not be surprising that aquacul-ture in Norway is followed closely by both media, consumers and NGO’s/ENGO’s. In my opinion we address this in the way critical questions are best addressed: By openness, trans-parency and dialogue,” comments Christian. He says that NSC enjoys a very good and open dialogue with WWF Norway and other ENGO’s such as Bellona. “We have an on-going coopera-tion with WWF to meet on a regular basis to discuss any critical questions and to see how we can work harder to promote sustainable seafood and what we can do as in industry player. I sincerely believe that we are doing a fair share on that and will be doing even more in the future.” “Norwegian seafood farming practices and status is very transpar-ent with data on undesirables, use of antibiotics, escapes from sea farms etc. available to the all online.” Escapes from sea farms where down to 30 000 in 2012, which is the lowest figure ever compared to a peak of 921 000 in 2006.

Salmon lice and escapes are key environmental challenges, concerning issues of genetics, ecology and the risk of spreading disease, which has a negative impact on the industry’s image, according to the Norwegian Ministry Of Fisheries And Costal Af-fairs.

Good environmental conditions a preconditionNSC’s ‘Strategy for an Environmen-tally Sustainable Norwegian Aqua-culture Industry’ shows that Norway is taking these issues very seriously. This strategy forms the plan for many actions being taken, and future goals. In 2004, Norway became the first country in the world to introduce a scheme laying down requirements and a technical standard for aqua-culture (NYTEK) to ensure farm-ing conducted on environmentally responsible lines. Furthermore, in 2007 Norway decided to set up of a total of 52 national salmon watercourses and 29 national salmon fjords, with stricter regimes for aquaculture to be applied for the sake of the wild salmon. Such areas enjoy special protection under the Aquaculture Act. The greatest potential for growth is in the farming of salmon, cod and shellfish and where eco-friendly, sustainable production is a precondi-tion for long-term development and growth, according to the ministry. It also points to a self-interest form the fish farmers in maintaining good water quality and avoiding any nega-tive impact on their surroundings: The aquaculture industry depends on good environmental conditions and water quality. Norway has depended on a combination of strict health regula-tions, close safety monitoring and continuous work to develop the industry, writes NSC. While in the past, there were concerns about aquaculture’s impact on the environment advancements have eliminated many of those ob-jections. For example, every farm must be licensed and operated in an environmentally appropriate location.

Also, use of antibiotics is no longer an issue whereas 15 years ago it was widespread, according to Christian. “It is something that sticks to the industry as a perception of salmon. We give all the small juvenile fishes a vaccine against all the known diseases that it can catch throughout the life cycle.” “The volumes have grown sub-stantially at the same time as the use of antibiotics are reduced by 99 % from the levels of 1987,” Christian comments the latest figure (a total of 905 kilos) from the Norwegian veterinarian institute.

Certification and greenconcessionsThe continued success of the Norwegian seafood industry is de-pendent on meeting and exceeding international food-safety demands. So Norway also has the highest number of third party eco certifi-cations via KRAV, Friends of The Sea, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) etc. The NSC runs a programme and works with partners to transform the world’s seafood markets and promote sustainable fishing practices. “We have to be present on many different arenas but we are very strong on eco certification and I really believe that it is part of the position-ing that we will see for seafood from Norway,” says Christian. Global standards for aquaculture are also in the pipeline where Nor-wegian companies have been closely involved in the process. For organic salmon production there are already several companies in Norway selling organic labelled fish. Norway’s government has re-cently also proposed the allocation of 45 new green salmon concessions in 2013 of which 35 means switching to the new green version. This is a very positive signal about continuous development in the right direction regarding the production of the world’s best seafood prod-ucts under the strictest aquaculture legislation in the world,” comments Christian.


Jan Lund in the centre of AsiaThe list seems endless when Danish journalist Jan Lund explains why he chose to settle in Singapore.


“They don’t have the same ide-ological inhibitions as we have in the western world. The fact that they are able to change perspective, if the development requires it, makes it possible for them react much fast-er than we in the Western world are able to.”

No new stupid governmentJan describes the development of Singapore as a society constantly moving forward and planning its de-velopment decades ahead. “Singapore has moved from providing basic needs as food and clothes for its citizens, to work and infrastructure and is now investing massively in culture. It is that energy and drive I finds amazing and unique for Asia. I love it. It gives such a kick to everyday life.” He believes that it is the political stability that has made Singapore’s long-term planning possible. There has been no risk that “a new stupid government” suddenly would get elected and change the planning. Since the independence in 1965 People’s Action Party (PAP) has ruled Singapore. That’s 47 years in power. But times are maybe chang-ing. At last election PAP “only” got 60 percent of the votes. “The government perceived the result as a huge defeat and it raised much soul-searching in PAP, which saw the result as a sign, that they had not paid enough attention to the people and listened to its wishes.”

Asia-lightAlthough Jan is much more com-fortable in Singapore than he is at home, he considers himself a Dane not a Singaporean. “I am an expat. That puts some limitations on how integrated I can be. I am a member of the local crick-et club and I sometimes pop down to watch the Singaporean football teams play, but I can’t vote or take part in politics.” He is an active part of the Dan-ish community in Singapore. He is vice-president in Danish Business Association of Singapore, member of the local VL-group (Danish manage-ment network) and representative of Danes worldwide in Singapore. “Danes worldwide is not as important here as it is for example in Tokyo. Everything is very easy in Singapore. You might call Singapore Asia-light. But if some Danes need help to settle I don’t mind helping.”

The private Jan LundDespite Jan’s career and travelling, he has been able to have a family

Jan LundBorn 1949

1969 Journalist trainee at Vestkysten1972 Graduated as Journalist 1973 Went to India on the hippie trail over land 1976 Sport journalist at Ritzau1983 Awarded sport journalist of the year1984 Sport journalist at Berlingske1987 Sport journalist at Jyllandsposten (JP)1992 Culture journalist at JP1994 Foreign correspondent New York JP

“To me Singapore is the centre of Asia. All cul-tures are rep-resented here;

its centre of economics; some very exciting think tanks are based here; Changi Airport gives easy access to all Asian cities; Singapore has a spe-cial knowledge based on everything that takes place not just in the region but globally; the weather is nice 30 degrees every day of the year; every-body speaks English and it is a global city. I love global cities. Note I have worked in New York, Tokyo, New Delhi and London. I feel at home in global cities.” The list seems endless when Jan Lund is asked why he chose Singa-pore as his new home. It is quite obvious that he loves the vibrant life of Singapore. At the age of 57 Jan decided to quit his job as foreign editor at Jyllands-Posten, the largest newspaper in Denmark, and moved to Singapore to be self-employed waving goodbye to fixed wages and safety net. “I had being an employed per-son for 35 years and had to face that I was becoming an elderly gent with maybe only 10 years left as journal-ist. So if I wanted to try something else, it had to be before the wheel-chair suddenly appeared next to me as the proper means of transport.”

Asia makes senseJan had been back in Denmark for little less than three years, when he decided to move to Singapore. Be-fore his return to Denmark, he had been foreign correspondent for ten years, seven of them in Asia, and he felt disconnected from the world at his editor desk. He realized he was losing his basic knowledge of what is going on in the world and losing his global network The dynamics and pragma-tism in Asia are two subjects that Jan keeps returning to when telling about his love for Asia. A favourite example is Singapore’s way to tackle the crisis in 2008. According to Singapore law, a state budget with a deficit is only possible if the government obtains the President’s approval, other-wise it is illegal for the government to spend more money than they have. When the crisis hit, Singapore decided, even before Lehmann Brothers went bankrupt, to launch a number of major programs to mitigate the impact of the looming crisis, resulting in first and so far only presidential approved deficit in Sin-gapore’s history.


and be a father. He has a lovely wife and grown up kids back home in Denmark, he tells. They have been with him at some of his postings. It has depend-ed on the circumstances. His approach to family is the same as to any other issue in his life: You have to be flexible, pragmatic. If things aren’t going your way, then move, try something else. And if the family isn’t happy being where Jan has chosen to be, it is better to find a solution that pleases everyone, even if the consequence is that the family lives separated.

You need to invent to surviveJan doesn’t consider himself a jour-nalist anymore. He doesn’t write regular news articles. He writes a weekly column for Jyllands Posten and columns for the Danish Embas-sy’s newsletter. Actually he does all kinds of media work. He produces books and magazines and recently he became stringer for Deutsche Presseagentur. Occasionally he also gets assignments from firms and he gives lectures both in Asia and back home in Denmark. To survive as a self-employed, Jan believes, you constantly have to invent new initiatives. Dabs’ maga-zine Danbiz is one of his inventions. He suggested it to Dabs before he became a member of the board. Among other new initiatives he takes part in is the newsletter of the Danish Embassy. It was origi-nally established by Jørgen Ørstrøm Møller in 1997, when he was Danish Ambassador, but had subsequently been downsized and in danger of being shut down, when Jan decided to get involved. “You have to invent your own original media concept to survive. Media change all the time and you have to find those niches where you can make a living.”

A black hole societyPersonal responsibility is a key-word for Jan. That’s why being self-em-ployed in a society as the Singapor-ean suits him so well. “In Denmark no one has re-sponsibility for anything. Here you have to be in charge of everything yourself.” Personal responsibility doesn’t imply a society without solidarity, cohesion and common identity, Jan emphasizes. “In Denmark we have parked our responsibility, our independence, our obligations and our solidarity in a box named The State, and as a black hole everything disappears in that box.”


Lieutenant–Colonel August Theodor Frederic Kolls (1867 -1911)Feared as a drillmaster, admired for his courage and determination

By Flemming Winther Nielsen

For many years the most prominent relic on the desk of Colonel August Kolls was the polished skull of Ai Muang, the ban-

dit and robber chief. He had been caught by Kolls, sentenced to death, and immediately beheaded by the executioner. After dark the ordi-nary gendarmes didn’t dare to enter the room, they were afraid of Ai Muang’s spirit. It is in no way possible for us today to imagine how life was lived in the countryside and jungles of Siam, around year 1900, complete lawless-ness reigned; conditions were not for sissies or a weak-willed nature that is for sure.

The gendarmes in Denmark and SiamThe Royal Siamese Gendarmerie was the first police corps in the Sia-mese provinces. It was established in 1897 after order by the absolute monarchy, represented by King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) and Prince Damrong, his brother. Before that lawlessness reigned in the coun-tryside and the hand of the central power was not to be seen outside the provincial towns. The officers recruited were mostly Danish. It has not been discussed much, but there cannot be much doubt that the in-spiration for the corps is also to be found in Denmark. Around this time Prime Minister J. B. S. Estrup headed the government in Copenhagen; he did so by using provisional laws since the majority in Parliament was against his ultra right wing ruling party, but he had the support of King Christian IX. On 27 October 1885, a provincial corps of Gendarmes was founded by Estrup, called ‘The Blue Gendarmes’ be-cause of the color of their uniforms. Their organization and duties in the provinces were much the same as the later corps in Siam -although conditions were very different. Prince Damrong, Minister of the Interior, visited Denmark as early as

1891where there are all possibilities that he was informed about ‘The Blue Gendarmes’. King Chulalongkorn visited Europe and Demark 1897, only a few months after the start of EAC. More of his sons got their military training in Copenhagen. The relations between the two Royal Houses were most cordial. The Dan-ish Commodore Richelieu in the Siamese Navy and H.N. Andersen had years earlier been instrumental in establishing the contact. It can be mentioned that some of the officers of the Siamese corps came from The Royal Danish Life Guard. They could not have been granted a leave without the King knowing; among them was Hans Marqvard Jensen, ‘The Hero of Lampang’. But a fantastic experiment it was: tall and slim young blond and blue eyed officers, from a totally different culture, transferred to the jungles of Siam working with short Siamese privates from the backwaters of Siam. Young men who had never in their life seen a ‘farang’ before and who were without any knowledge of military skills, many of them were not literate.

The Man from the MoonAugust Kolls was one of these ‘Men from the Moon’, tall, blond, sporting

Mrs. Arrunee, granddaugther of Colonel Kolls and her son Khun Pasu, both residents of Chiang Mai, but here by the cleaned memorial in Trang. The memorial will now be primed and coated in the original colors.


an impressive moustache and with penetrating ice blue eyes that his gendarmes didn’t dare to meet. But in fact it started in the vil-lage of Pedersborg by Soroe the 23. July 1867. Here Maria Dorthea Wendt, married to farmer C.A.F. Kolls, brought a son to the world. He was baptized August Theodor Frederic but soon thereafter adopted by steam miller Kolls (his uncle we suppose) in Tappernoeje. Next we meet him as Second-lieutenant 1888. He arrived in Bangkok on 16 January 1890, where he was immediately promoted to Premier-Lieutenant. For years he worked in the army and in the Marine-infantry as instructor and a heavy handed drillmaster, feared by his soldiers. When the gendarmerie was founded he was hired and for many years headed the Gendarmerie sta-tion in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), where he, among other duties, trained and instructed the enrolled Danish officers. On16 October 1902, it was also his sad duty, as the liaison officer, to forward the detailed Death Certificate of Captain Hans Marqvard Jensen to the acting Danish Consul in Bangkok. Meanwhile, the most important task was to make the mountainous route from the southern plains to

the plateau of Korat safe for the merchants and their caravans. The mountains were in the hands of gangs relieving all travelers of their belongings. Kolls traced them down, he himself in front, an extremely easy target as he was. In a year or so he simply cleansed the mountains out, many dead and wounded on both sides. It was on such an expedition he learned that Ai Muang was that night sleeping with a mistress in a certain house – a traditional house, on piles. Kolls banged the floor from underneath and called for Ai Muang to come down and meet him. Ai Muang did, undoubtedly knowing that he had ran out of luck and life.

In the SouthThen, in 1908 August Kolls was transferred to the South, in 1909 pro-moted to Lieutenant-Colonel. Also here he found the ordinary robbers and highwaymen, but also some very disgusting elements among the public officials in the Southern provinces. When he exposed these people’s doings, they of course became his sworn enemies. It seems that the Colonel simply did what he found it right or neces-sary to do, without thinking much of the consequences or personal protection. That also goes for the

physical challenges he gave himself; extensive travelling in the jungle, drinking raw water and so on. He had more dysentery bouts. He was admitted to the Presbyterian Mission Hospital late June 2011 with yet another attack of dysentery. From that he died on 4 July 1911. He left a Siamese wife and two young sons, one of them being Charoen Kollasutr, who lived for many years in Chiang Mai. In Kolls’ family it has been a part

*Google: ‘Gendarmer I Hobro’ (Henrik. S. Hansen)Literature: Rasmussen, A. Kann (1986): Danske i Siam 1858-1942.Seidenfaden, Erik v/Peder Joergensen (1999): ’Det kongelige Siamesiske Provinsgendarmeri og dets danske Officerer’.

of the family saga for generations to tell that when King Rama VI heard about Kolls’ death he should have exclaimed with a sigh: “Now I have lost my right arm in the South”. On the memorial in Trang we read: ‘By the Gracious command of His Majesty the King of Siam this stone is erected in recognition of long and faithful services to the memory of Lieut. Col. Kolls born in Denmark 23rd July 1867 died in Trang 4th July 1911’.

The memorial as it looked 2012 before renovating started. The original stone was later embedded in the memorial, as can be seen.

Bumrung Kollasutr, the son of the colonel, standing by the original tombstone (no later than 1966).


EAC Fund Supports Heritage PreservationThe EAC Foundation - the foundation of the East Asiatic Company - has donated 260.000 Thai Baht (50.000 DKK) - to support the work of the Heritage Section of Scandinavian Society Siam to renovate some of the graves of Danes buried in Thailand.

By Flemming Winther Nielsen

The grave of the first Danish Consul to Thai-land, Carl F. Koebke and his wife Bolette is in a historical sense one of

the most important Danish graves in Thailand. The grave is located on the Christian Cemetery in Bangkok and one of the first graves to be identified as in need of renovation by the Heritage Section of the Scan-dinavian Society Siam. The head-stone was tilting to the left and the inscription hardly readable. “We have now had the stone straightened up and the painted let-ters in bas relief refreshed both on the headstone and the plate,” says Flemming Winther Nielsen who is the head of the heritage section. The grave is now supported by a 15 cm layer of concrete to hinder further decay. The work has been possible because of the financial support received from The EAC Founda-tion - the foundation of East Asiatic Company in Denmark.

The majority of the graves in need of restoration are located at the Christian Cemetery in Bangkok. But also outside Bangkok, several graves were identified as Danish heritage by the SSS Heritage Section. The monument in Phayao over Captain Hans Marqvard Jensen, who led Siamese troops in a battle that prevented the North of Siam to become part of Burma, is taken well care of by the Thai police. Less so with his grave, that was originally placed in Lampang, the city he de-fended, which has since been moved to Chiangmai. In Trang in the South of Thailand, two graves have been renovated with the support of the the EAC fund. One is the grave of Commander, Capt. F Haurowitz in Trang who drowned at the entrance to the harbour. Another is the grave of Colonel August Kolls who served in The Royal Siamese Provincial Military Police. In Muak Lek around 150 km north of Bangkok, a grave right next to the railway station bears witness to Danish

involvement in other aspects of the modernisation of the Kingdom. Here rests Knud Lyhne Rahbek an only 19 year old land surveyor. A Bodhi tree that undoubtedly has been planted at the same time as the burial had overgrown the grave, but the grave has now been cleaned up and painted. “When we - myself together with Claus Gundersen and Gregers Moller - applied for the support from The EAC Foundation, I was fairly optimistic that we could soon finish this task,” says Flemming Winther Nielsen. “But the task just keeps growing. One major frustration is, that the cemetery in Bangkok gets flooded every year. We have to push for the main caretaker - a committee under the British Consul - to lay down drain pipes so our limited funds are not wasted,” he says. So far, 80 graves mostly in the cemetery in Bangkok have been registered as worthy of preservation and close to 20 have by now already been renovated with the support of the EAC Foundation.

The renovated grave of Captain

of The Royal Siamese Provincial

Gendarmerie, Hans Marqvard

Jensen at the Foreigners

Cemetery in Chiang Mai.

Flemming Winther Nielsen at the grave of Danish Consul, Captain Carl F. Koebke during a cemetery presentation walk for members of Scandinavian Society Siam on Saturday 3 November 2012.

The headstone of Arne Sofus Gundersen before and after the renovation.


A piece of Scandinavia in SingaporeA trip to Scandinavian Shoppe may well be one of your most successful and convenient shopping rounds from now on. In mid-October this year, Scandinavian Shoppe has moved from South Buona Vista to Block 38 in an HBD estate in Telok Blangah Rise just off Lower Delta Road.

By Ulrika Forssel

With the relocation of Scandinavian Shoppe, you may come home more often with many

longed for food items such as Danish cheese with lots of flavours, herring pickled in mustard, the fiery candy known as Turkish Pepper or the beloved Norwegian brown cheese. The new location of Scandinavian Shoppe boasts a wet market, a few hardware stores, a pet shop and a hawker centre where you can have lunch after all your shopping is done. It is also very accessible both by car and by public transport, and there are plenty of parking lots.

at the sign pointing to blocks 37-43 is just behind the shop. For residents of Sentosa, the shop can be reached in just a few minutes. At present, the vast majority of the products in the shop are from Denmark since it is the country of origin of the shop owner. They would like to cater as much to the other Scandinavians as well and are look-ing for possibilities to import popu-lar Swedish and Norwegian items. The shop owners Mel and Michael Thøgersen have passed the respon-sibility of running the business on to Mel’s mother Bernadette Misson since they moved back to Denmark. Bernadette spends some time in Denmark researching the food industry and local customs. She often brings back to Singapore new ideas and knowledge about what Scandi-navians want to buy. Shipments arrive regularly at Scandinavian Shoppe. On a monthly basis an air shipment full of delicious cheese, herring and other fresh products will fill up the shelves in the store. For dry products such as crisp bread, flour mixes, sauce mixes and candy, as well as preserves such as red cabbage and red beets, there is a large shipment by boat every quarter.

The festive seasons like Christmas and Easter, when demand surges, are taken into account. This is where you can come and stock up on herring and snaps for the holidays. The best and most immediate way to find out about customer needs is of course to ask the regulars and to listen to their wishes. Shop assistant Cathy has an open com-munication with customers and will consider special requests as far as it is possible by their present means. Cathy has started the shop’s Facebook account to promote a dynamic way of communications. She urges everybody to click ‘like’ and join in the conversation. Here you can find out about new shipments and special events going on in and around Scandinavian Shoppe.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 10.00 a.m. - 07.00 p.m. Saturday and public holiday: 09.00a.m. - 06:00a.m. The shop is closed on Sunday.

For more information, contact +65 6476 2575

Block 38 is right in the centre of the estate and there is a food court just in front of the shop. Renovation work was being done to the food court and the pavement around it when I visited, but it was almost done already, and the final result will be a very pleasant, typical Singaporean hangout. The friendly and cheerful shop assistant Cathy tells me that the location was chosen for its convenience and proximity to where many Scandinavians, especially Danish, live. It is a short bus ride on bus 65 or 855 from Harbourfront, and if you come from the city centre you can take either bus 143 from Newton or 65 from Orchard area. If you come by car, the first parking lot as you turn in


Luxury Villas For Sales


As you approach @AoNang Villas the first thing that strikes you is the 3 Metre

high wall that surrounds the villas. Then you notice the outer detail of beautifully sculpted elephants decorating the outer wall. As you enter the gate, a guard salutes you with a smile. There is a bustle with activity on the site as currently two new villas are being build. The site is green and lush with flowers and plants but the thing that im-mediately catches your eye is the villas themselves. In front of you you have the majestic model villa build in modern thai style and with a private 10 m pool surrounded by the living room and bedrooms and a large pool deck. At a closer inspection you find three bedrooms in the villa all with bath rooms. All the rooms are overlooking the pool area and it is easy to see that at-tention to details and design have been of very high importance to the people behind the villas.

@AoNang Villas is a new project in AoNang, Krabi, which offers luxurious private pool villas for sale. It is located only 5 km from AoNang Beach and the crystal clear waters of the Andaman Sea. The villas are located in a quiet area of AoNang and nestled among the rubber trees and beautiful natural surroundings. It is an ideal place for people who love the peace and sounds of nature all the while still having all the amenities of AoNang, which include thai and western restaurants, shopping and leisure activities like scuba diving, snorkeling, golf, rock climbing and enjoyment at the beach.

@AoNang Villas are dedicated to making sure that you have the best time when staying at the villa. You will have taxi service from and to AoNang Beach, 24 hour security, on-site restaurant, fitness center, playground for the kids and garden areas. @AoNang

Villas can also manage your villa when you are not there making sure the pool is cleaned, garden stays beautiful and villa is regularly cleaned. The team behind the vil-las can also manage renting out your villa when you are not there and so also making the villa a good investment opportunity.

Krabi is the ideal location for people who want to live and enjoy a green destination and less overdeveloped area than e.g. Phuket and Pattaya. You will find an atmosphere of tran-quility and harmony in Krabi that is hard to come by in other more crowded places. The officials in Krabi have announced a dedication to keeping Krabi green all the while making sure that you have all the basic necessities like an interna-tional hospital, good infrastructure and shopping malls.

As we enjoy the day in @AoNang Villas we meet one of the first buy-

ers, a dane living in Bangkok, and he tells us that what attracted him to the project, besides the qual-ity of construction and beauty of the villas, was that the project is dedicated to being Krabi’s most environmentally friendly project. Also the potential of renting out the villa while not using it, with management of the villa be handled by the @AoNang Villas, was something that attracted him to buy. Also Krabi itself with is many opportunities for enjoyment like trekking, swimming, golfing and many other activities was more attractive than the more overcrowded and hectic places in other towns.

@AoNang Villas is truly a remark-able project and it is clear that there is a dedication and passion for design behind the project - one that shines though for all people who are lucky enough to stay in one of the villas.

You can read more about @AoNang Villas and contact them on their website here: www.at-aonangvillas.com.


Launch of Hogane - quality synthetic rattan furniture at affordable prices

In connection with the launch of Hogane Co., Ltd., a new brand of synthetic rattan outdoor fur-niture in Thailand, we took the opportunity to meet with own-

er and managing director Mr. Janeric Hogane for a brief talk. Janeric, a long term resident in Hua Hin, is the owner of The Cabinet Interior Design - a renowned kitchen and furniture manufacturer offering turnkey solutions to customers in and around Hua Hin, Bangkok as well as the Eastern Seaboard. Janeric says that he started Ho-gane Co., Ltd. because he saw a strong demand for high quality synthetic rattan furniture at affordable prices. “There is no lack of companies selling high quality synthetic rattan furniture in Thailand,” he says, “but the problem is that their prices are too high, often much more expensive than in Europe, even though the furniture often are produced in this region.” Hogane Co., Ltd. produces its new brand of outdoor furniture in Indonesia, a country well-known around the world for its high quality furniture manufacturing. All Hogane’s outdoor furniture is made of light-weight aluminum and high grade synthetic rattan. The current range includes lounge sets, coffee tables, dining tables and chairs, sun beds and bar stools, in various colors and designs. Janeric informs us that they are also able to produce customized designs, according to the customers’ specifications. “Synthetic rattan furniture, which

is very popular in the west, is be-coming increasingly popular also in Thailand, where previously Teak and other local hardwood furniture has been the natural choice for outdoor use,” Janeric explains. “Not only is synthetic rattan furniture modern and very stylish, but also extremely durable and can be left outside all year round with-out being effected by heavy rains or burning hot sun,” Janeric shows us some of the furniture on display at The Cabinet’s spacious showroom on Petchkasem road in Hua Hin and continues “These high quality synthetic rattan furniture are very light-weight, resistant to all weather conditions, doesn’t get bleached by the sun or damaged by rain, and perhaps best of all: requires no maintenance. Besides that they are environmentally friendly and the materials are all recyclable. There are so many great advantages with this new brand of furniture, I could go on forever,” Janeric says smiling. “It is truly a high-end product sold at very reasonable price.” The company targets both private homeowners as well as the commercial market, with special project prices when ordering larger quantities of furniture. Janeric welcomes everyone to visit The Cabinet’s showroom in Hua Hin to look at the new furniture on display. It is also possible to visit www.hogane.com for pictures, prices, and information on where else in Thailand you will find the furniture on display.


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Medium

Rice Porridge (Risengrød)By Gregers Moller

Ingredients:• 1 liter milk • ½ tsp salt• 110 gram rice (1 1/4 dl) (round grains preferrably)Cinnamon sugar mix:• Mix 4 tablespoons of sugar with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder.Almond:• Raw almond with brown shell on (or raw, white cashew nut).

Risengrød. It is simply not Christmas without it! I serve it for all our employees in ScandMedia at our year end party every year and they have come to expect it - although not really like it, I suspect. What

they do like, though, is the hidden almond in the porridge and the gift that comes with finding it in your portion!

I usually boil up the rice in plain water as the problem is that the milk may easily burn. When the water has boiled a few minutes, I pour in the milk and let it boil while stirring. Then I take it off the burner and pack it in my bed with a few blankets around it and leave it there for a few hours. At the same time I put an unpeeled almond in hot water.

Before serving it, I bring it back on the stove and heat it up while stirring constantly. If it is too thick, I add extra milk. This is when you put in the white almond - the shell will by now be so weak that you can rub it off with your fingers - or one year I used a white, un-roasted cashew nut.

It is served in noodle bowls. Sprinkle it on top with the cinnamon sugar. Some like a lump of butter in the middle. Whoever finds the almond in their portion wins a gift, that you must have prepared in advance.


ScandAsia eMagazine December 2012

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Transcript of ScandAsia eMagazine December 2012