The Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has signed with the French Egis International- Adetef consulting joint venture a technical and financial assistance contract for implementing public - private partnership (PPP) projects.

The 3.5 million USD deal, co-funded by the Asia Development Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD), aims to promote the application of the PPP model in infrastructure development projects in Vietnam.

Egis International, the provider of engineering services in urban development, and Adetef, the Agency for Technical International Cooperation of the French Ministries of Economy, Finance and Sustainable Development, will provide consultancy relating to strategy, finance, environmental and social issues for the MPI from now to 2018. At the signing ceremony on July 22 in Hanoi, Director of the Tender Management Department under the MPI Le Van Tang said he hopes the joint venture’s consultants will actively help speed up PPP programmes in the country.

Fleur Pellerin, Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, Tourism Promotion and French Nationals Abroad of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, noted that the Vietnamese Government’s PPP programme will create big opportunities in infrastructure development, one of the most promising areas for French firms in Vietnam in the future.

At a press conference in Hanoi on the same day, Fleur Pellerin also affirmed that her country will raise its provision of ODA for a metro construction project in Hanoi to 500 million EUR from only 320 million EUR it committed previously.-VNA