Mrs. Fleur Pellerin, the French Minister of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, Egis and Adetef signed a technical assistance contract on 22 July in Hanoi with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to support the development of public-private partnerships (PPP) in Vietnam.

The contract was signed during the e official visit to Vietnam of Mrs. Fleur Pellerin. This contract, worth US$3.5 million over a period of 5 years and co-financed by the Asian Development Bank and the French Development Agency, is part of the country's plan to support public-private partnerships.

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has embarked on a comprehensive public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure investment programme to address the binding constraint of insufficient infrastructure in line with the Socio-economic Development Strategy for 2011-2020. The programme also focuses on assisting authorised state agencies (ASAs) to identify and structure sound PPP projects.

Under the auspices of this programme, the Egis-Adetef consortium will provide expert advice on strategic, institutional, financial, environmental and social issues on behalf of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). The ministry is the executing agency on this project jointly financed by the Asian Development Bank and the French Development Agency. A Project Management Unit (PMU) has been established within the PPP office of the

The technical assistance consultancy team will assist the PMU in project management. It will contribute recommendations on PPP strategy, institutional and sector issues (energy, transport, education, health, water/sanitation etc.), and on economic, financial, and safeguard aspects (involuntary resettlement and indigenous peoples, etc). This support shall include knowledge transfer and capacity building of government counterparts at the MPI and in ASAs.