Two years ago, the first international conference GEOTEC HANOI 2011 with the theme "Geotechnics for Sustainable Development" was successfully organized with more than 450 attendess from 24 countries. The conference's main purpose was to provide a forum to interchange ideas, experience, and knowledge in the interest areas. Continuing from the success of the first event, the conference was divided to be held every second year in Hanoi. Hosting the conference are FECON foundation Engineering & Underground construction JSC, a leading geotechnical constractor in Vietnam, and Vietnamese society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (VSSMGE), with an invited international co-organizer, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) from Thailand. The ambition of the organizers is to establish an international conference every second year in Vietnam, which can attract of the leading experts both from Vietnam and around the world in the geotechnical areas that have been or will be developed in Vietnam. The event is also aimed to help Vietnamese experts, engineers and contractors actively taking part in the sustainable development of the infrastructure in particular, and of the economy in general in Vietnam. 
During the two years between the two conferences, a lot of new large projects have been constructed in Vietnam. Height has been conquered and tall buildings are becoming larger. Now it is time to challenge depth. Construction of the first metro lines in Vietnam has started in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city. Difficulties are still in front of us and many of them are unpredictable. Experience and knowledge from colleagues, both international and local is needed, and this can be hopefully gained through the conference's five technical sessions: 1) foundation for high-rise buildings, 2) Underground projects in soft tunnels and excavations, and 5) Geotechnical modelling and numerical analysis. 
In the first conference, we had six wonderful keynote lectures given by well-known experts from around the world: Prof. Sven Hansbo (Sweden), Prof. Kenji Ishihara (Japan), Prof. Harry Poulos (Australia), Prof. Pieter Vermeer (Netherland), Prof. Alain Guilloux (France), and Dr. Horishi Yoshida (Japan). Their lectures were milestone for the first event's success. 
In this conference, the audience will have chance to listen to the five keynote lectures: 1) "Geotechnical challenges at super high-rise buildings", Prof. Rolf Katzenbach (Germany), 2) "Management of settlements for an urban tunnel (Toulon, France)", Prof. Alian Guilloux (France), 3) "Recent geosynthetic-reinforced soil structrures for railways in Japna", Prof. Fumio Tatsuoka (Japan), 4) "Smart Geo-Infrastruture-Opportunities for new sensor monitoring systems", Prof. Kenichi Soga (UK), and 5) "Examples for successfull 3D finite element analysis in geotechnical engineering". Prof. Helmut Schweiger (Australia). The conference will also honor a giant figure in the geotechnical world, Prof. Sven Hansbo from sweden, with his Honorable lecture "Deep compaction by heavy tamping, deep vibraion and blasting". Since 1979, Professor Hansbo has enormously devoted to the development of geotechnics in Vietnam. His name is also attached to the sucess of the cooperation between Vietnam and Sweden in the Geotechnical field. 
With 112 papers from 27 countries, GEOTEC HANOI 2013 will be an unforgetttable event. The conference cannot be successful without the enthusiastic participation and valuable contribution of hundreds of experts from all over the world. It can not be eitherbe realised without the supports from governmental agencies, research institutes, and private firms in Vietnam and internationally.