France pledges more aid to improve Vietnam water resources
France will increase its assistance to Vietnam for improving management of its water resources, French Senator Jacques Oudin told a conference in Ho Chi Minh City Friday.
Oudin, also the co-chairperson of the Supreme Council for France-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Development, said Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh City, faced serious environmental problems like water shortage, pollution, and inadequate waste processing by industries and medical facilities.
In many industrial zones in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighboring provinces like Dong Nai, water sources had been seriously polluted.
It would take Vietnam at least another 25 years to build a potable water supply system like in France if it managed to mobilize the finance, information, and people’s awareness.
Oudin said these problems would be on the agenda at the council’s upcoming meeting in Montreuil next July.
Friday’s meeting was also attended by French experts in water, environment, and geology, who came as part of a French delegation visiting Vietnam March 14-20.
Earlier the visitors had met local authorities and discussed water management.
It has been one of the areas receiving priority in Vietnam from the French government in the last 15 years.
By Tuong Nhi - Nguoi Lao Dong - March 17, 2007.
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