ESCAP Calls For Public-private Partnership To Benefit People

Tehran, November 11, IRNA - The United Nations will urge Asia-Pacific leaders meeting here this week to join hands in a mutually beneficial partnership to remove infrastructure bottlenecks to help close development gaps and build more inclusive, sustainable and resilient prosperity in the region. Speaking on the eve of the Third Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Public Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Development, hosted by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and supported by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Dr. Noeleen Heyzer underlined the need for “a new development approach that ensures long-term economic growth, reduces poverty and aligns business interests with the sustainable use of our planet’s resources”. The third in a series of ministerial meetings on public private partnerships (PPPs) in Asia and the Pacific organized by ESCAP over the past five years, the Tehran Conference follows those held in Seoul in 2007, and in Jakarta in 2010, a press release issued by the UN Information Center (UNIC) said Sunday. Participants in the conference will review progress in implementing the “Jakarta Declaration on Public Private Partnership for Infrastructure Development in Asia and the Pacific” adopted by the conference two years ago. This declaration emphasized the principles of promoting PPP in infrastructure development and focused on the implementation of PPP. Subsequently, in May 2010, the ESCAP member states adopted a resolution on Implementation of the Jakarta Declaration, requesting the executive secretary of ESCAP to undertake a periodic review of the progress made in infrastructure development through PPP, and to allow experts to apprise their country’s progress in these matters. As a result of this resolution, ESCAP is organizing a High-level Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on PPP, which will take place on November 11 and 12, 2012, in Tehran and will be attended by government officials from countries of the Asia-Pacific region. The EGM will consider the sharing of best-practices, how to address the shortcomings of current approaches, and better align PPP with the sustainable development agenda. In her address to the EGM on Sunday, Dr. Heyzer will propose five action areas in which PPP models can be improved: extending the traditional definition of the private sector; focusing on the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises; working more closely with firms and foundations dedicated to social entrepreneurship; finding ways to help least developed countries to upscale homegrown solutions; and learning from best practice examples across the region. Following the two-day EGM, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will convene a Business Forum with a view to appraising the Iranian private sector of global developments and trends in PPP outside of Iran. It will provide an opportunity for Iranian government officials to showcase a number of potential PPP projects to the Iranian private sector. The Expert Group Meeting will, in turn, inform the deliberations of the Ministerial Conference on November 14, 2012, in which more than 20 Asia-Pacific countries are expected to participate. The MC, which is also convened by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will review progress in the application of PPP in responding to the development of the region. It is also anticipated that the ministers will adopt a declaration that strengthens regional cooperation in furthering PPP for infrastructure development./end