On 3 December in Hanoi (Vietnam), the General Administration of the Environment (under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment ), in conjunction with SUEZ ENVIRONMENT, organised a seminar on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the water and environmental services sector.

According to Dr. Lê Kê Son, Deputy head of the General Administration of the environment, "the relatively rapid process of urbanisation and industrialisation in Vietnam has had a considerable impact on the environment and natural resources, which generates large volumes of wastewater and waste".

At year-end 2008, Vietnam had 126 industrial zones discharging some one million cubic meters of wastewater each day. Only 63 of them, however, had a wastewater treatment system.

Faced with these problems, "the participants at the conference agreed to create suitable conditions for public and private companies, specialised in the water and environmental services sector", according to the Courrier du Vietnam. The goal is to have 40% of all urban areas and 70% of all industrial and free zones equipped with wastewater treatment systems compliant with environmental standards by 2010.

Frédéric Gourdin, Director of SUEZ ENVIRONMENT China at that time, presented the model and the solutions applied by SUEZ ENVIRONMENT  in Chongqing and Shanghai. Le Courrier du Vietnam reported that "according to [Mr Gourdin], public-private partnerships are an effective and legitimate response to the challenges in water management".

For his part, Dr. Lê Kê Son said that "France is a country very experienced un public-private partnerchips", and hoped that "the French experiences presented today will help the Vietnamese party enhance the effectiveness of its Environment policies".