Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis, Lieutenant Governor of California, and visiting Danish officials held a signing ceremony in San Francisco to formalize a memorandum of understanding establishing a framework for strategic cooperation between the State of California and Denmark.

The MOU, introduced at the event hosted at Salesforce Tower, "will establish a flexible framework to support strategic cooperation on environmental resilience and the green economy, digital safety, cyber development, and innovative ecosystems," Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis said.

The agreement formalizes cooperation across multiple areas of shared interest, a point stressed by Denmark's foreign minister and former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Rasmussen said the MOU will expand trade ties, public–private partnerships and research exchanges, and pointed to existing ties including the Danish Innovation Center in California, which he said will mark its 20th anniversary next year.

"We are extremely happy to do so," Rasmussen said of stepping up cooperation, adding that Danish companies traveling with his delegation "are ready to step up" commercial ties. He cited the Stanford Groundwater Architecture Project — a joint effort he described as researchers, companies and policymakers from Denmark and California working together "to develop new ways of mapping groundwater reservoirs in California." Rasmussen said the agreement provides "a powerful engine to drive that kind of cooperation forward."

Governor Gavin Newsom highlighted the state's climate and clean-energy agenda during his remarks. Citing information provided by staff, Newsom said that "93% of the day so far this calendar year, the fourth largest economy in the world has run on a 100% green energy," using the statistic to argue California and Denmark have common ground on scaling clean energy and sustainability practices.

Officials at the ceremony named several priority areas the MOU covers: regenerative agriculture, circular-economy practices, groundwater mapping, climate resilience and digital-safety cooperation including trustworthy artificial intelligence and cyber development. The MOU also aims to encourage research exchanges and public–private partnerships, and Rasmussen said it would help spur cross-border investment.

Present at the ceremony were senior members of the governor's delegation, including Jennifer Newsom (first partner of California), Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and senior advisors Lauren Sanchez (climate) and Randy Mitchell (technology), all of whom Kounalakis recognized by name.

The ceremony concluded with a brief question-and-answer session with reporters. Organizers said the signing marked a step to expand commercial and research ties; no specific funding amounts or binding implementation timelines were announced during the event.

The signing ceremony finished without additional formal actions recorded at the event beyond the MOU itself; officials said follow-up work and staff exchanges will be necessary to develop concrete programs under the new framework.