By Xiao Wu, Xingchen Yue, iChongqing news.
Chongqing - The Royal Danish Consulate General in Chongqing, has recently welcomed its new Consul General, Mr. Lars Eskild Jensen, took office. On September 4, iChongqing interviewed Mr. Jensen to hear about his thoughts and plans during his term in Chongqing.
"My job is in a way political but also economic," said Mr. Jensen. Besides the main role to develop a close relationship with local authorities, the Consul General, along with his team, will also focus on enhancing economic cooperation between Danish companies and local ones in Southwest China. With 4-year experience in energy and maritime business in the Danish Embassy in Beijing and reliable expertise, Mr. Jensen will work on the cooperation in fields of green energy, agriculture&food, and health.
According to Mr. Jensen, in the last 30 to 40 years, Denmark has diminished water consumption with 30% and carbon dioxide with 30%, as well as kept energy consumption low. "This is exactly what China wants, as China is pursuing green and high-quality development. There is a base for cooperation in the green area. Danish companies can offer green technologies in areas such as wastewater treatment and water supply."
"We have undergone tremendous development in organic food production and different kinds of organic food regulations in the past 20 years," said Mr. Jensen. "We see more and more Chinese middle-class emphasize on health food. There will be interest to put (a) Danish food system here. It will also be great (for) Danish producers (to) get an agreement with China and sell in China," he continued. Mr. Jensen also saw excellent cooperation potential in livestock raising. Denmark's way to raise the livestock paid more attention to the animals' feeling, to avoid high livestock death toll and produce better quality meat. "It will be great to introduce the Danish way to raise livestock to China," said Mr. Jensen. "If we go do the healthcare field, one of the big areas we can cooperate is in diabetes."
According to Mr. Jensen, as a place is undergoing fast development, diabetes emerges as a common disease. Denmark has had a pharmaceutical company which treats diabetes for the last hundred years. Now they work with the company at the city level in China on diabetes treatment and diabetes prevention through education. "If we compare Chongqing to Beijing and Shanghai, the diabetes is only half as high as those cities. Here is a chance we can help Chongqing to control the situation (from) developing further," said Mr. Jensen.
Before going into diplomacy, Mr. Jensen used to work in forestry. Chongqing, with its green mountains and forests, has already won the new Consul General's heart during his first month in the city. "I'm an outdoor man. I will be interested in having more Danish people enjoy the wild nature of Chongqing," he said.