DPRK Signs Power Grid Deal With ABB

DPRK Signs Power Grid Deal With ABB

Swiss Foreign Minister Visits Pyongyang

Micheline Calmy-Rey (the third from the left side), chief of the Federal Department of the Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation, and members of her party with Kim Yong Nam (center), President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People's Assemby. on May 19.

The DPRK signed a memorandum of understanding with Swiss-based giant Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. (ABB) on May 19 to modernize electric power network in the DPRK, during the Swiss foreign minister’s visit to Pyongyang.

A memorandum of understanding on the implementation of “high-tension power grid” project was signed between the Power Industry General Bureau of the Ministry of Power and Coal Industries of the DPRK and representative of the ABB Ltd., Felix Abt, the KCNA reported on May 19. The ABB side said the deal would help improve the condition of electricity supply in the DPRK.

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey paid her five-day official visit to the DPRK from May 16 to 20 and met her DPRK counterpart Paek Nam Sun in Pyongyang on May 19. Both sides “exchanged views on boosting the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries and a series of issues of mutual concern,” the KCNA reported.

Photo shows a signing ceremony on May 19 of a memorandum of understanding on the implementation of "high-tension power gird" project between the Ministry of Power and Coal Industries of the DPRK and representative of the ABB Ltd.

Micheline Calmy-Rey, chief of the Federal Department of the Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation, also met and had talks with Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly. In the talks, the Swiss foreign minister said that the friendly and cooperative relations between Switzerland and the DPRK would be strengthened. International law and the independence of every country should be respected in settling all issues, she noted, adding that Switzerland stands for the negotiated settlement of all issues concerning the Korean Peninsula.

In a reception given by the government of the DPRK on May 16, Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun expressed his gratitude to the Swiss government and people for their “sincere aid to the DPRK out of humanitarianism,” saying that their aid “was greatly encouraged the Korean people in their efforts to cope with the adverse effects of the natural disasters.” He also said that the DPRK would “work hard to boost the friendly and cooperative relations with Switzerland in various fields” on the principle of mutual respect for sovereignty, non-interference in other’s internal affairs, equality and reciprocity.

The Swiss Confederation and the DPRK have many things in common in self-respect for their countries, the spirit of national independence and strong national identity, though both sides are in different continents and have different cultural traditions, Swiss foreign minister said. “Switzerland insists on the negotiated settlement of all the issues of the Korean Peninsula,” she was quoted as saying by the KCNA.

Their cooperation that began with emergency and humanitarian aid will lead to cooperation in development and it will bring about greater economic exchanges between the two countries, she said, and hoped for the prosperity of the DPRK as well as increased friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Micheline Calmy-Rey and her party at the Kubin Cooperative Stockbreeding Farm in Kangdong County in Pyongyang on May 19.

Meanwhile, Micheline Calmy-Rey and her party toured sightseeing spots in Pyongyang city, such as Mangyongdae, the birthplace of the late President Kim Il Sung, the Tower of the Juche Idea, the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, the Pyongyang Children’s Confectionary and the Kubin Cooperative Stockbreeding Farm in Kangdong County. The Swiss delegation made an inspection of aid projects in North Hwanghae Province.

Established in 1883, ABB is the Swiss-based transnational corporation which leads in power and automation technologies. Matching General Electric Company of the U.S. and Siemens AG of Germany in the field of equipment for generation of electricity, the ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs around 135,000 people.

In November 2000, the Zurich-based mammoth global technology-oriented business concern signed an accord with the DPRK on cooperation in the production of electrical machinery and equipment as well as in the modernization of the DPRK’s electric power system, during the visit of the company’s president and CEO Goran Lindahl to Pyongyang. ABB opened its office in Pyongyang in June 2001 and appointed a group’s representative to the head of the office.Officials concerned of the DPRK and ABB said they expected that the signing of the memorandum would accelerate the project of constructing a high-tension power grid.

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