Conference: Knowledge Sharing on Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships in Asia – PPPI Series 2009 (Event 1)

The conference on "Knowledge Sharing on Infrastructure Public Private Partnerships in Asia", held 19-21 May 2009 in Seoul, Korea, was the first event of the 2009 ADBI PPPI Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building Series. The conference was organized in collaboration with the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and organized with ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department (ADB-RSDD) and the World Bank Institute (WBI).

The conference was well attended, bringing together 80 senior government officials responsible for PPP policy, programs and projects, from 23 countries across the Asia Pacific region. The 3-day event profiled an in-depth assessment of the Korean PPP experience and contrasted the Korean approach with PPP approaches from Australia, Chile, India and the UK. (See Program) The in-depth study of the Korean PPP experience was prepared by KDI in conjunction with ADB RETA No. 6492: Knowledge Sharing on Infrastructure PPPs in Asia (financed under the e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund by the Republic of Korea). All of the country and sector PPP case studies prepared for the conference are also part of a global comparison of PPP approaches being compiled for the Multilateral PPP for Infrastructure Capacity Building Initiative (MP3IC) that ADBI is implementing in collaboration with WBI and the Multilateral Investment Fund – Inter American Development Bank (MIF–IADB).

The conference was opened by Oh Seok Hyun, President of the Korea Development Institute. In his opening remarks, Dr. Hyun emphasized that PPPs encourage productive cooperation between the public and private sectors in order to provide effective and efficient approaches for building economic and social infrastructure and providing public services. He highlighted that, with increasing global financial challenges, many countries are exploring ways of promoting effective PPP programs to further complement public investment. Dr. Hyun affirmed that Korea's success with PPPs, which have now been effectively utilized for roads, ports, and railway projects, is in great part due to implementing an advanced legal framework for PPPs. He emphasized that the cornerstones of the advanced legal framework, which correspond with global standards, are the Act on Private Participation Act on Infrastructure, and the Public and Private Infrastructure Investment Management Center (PIMAC) which was established for its implementation. Dr Hyun also expressed his hope that Korea's extensive PPP experience, which now spans well over a decade, together with the other country experiences to be profiled at the conference, will enable participating country delegates to explore alternative PPP approaches that will be relevant and pragmatic for the specific challenges faced in their countries.

In his welcome remarks, Yong Geoi Lee, Vice Minister, Ministry of Strategy and Finance Korea, added that Korea is utilizing both foreign and domestic private sector investment to activate the economy, and employing PPPs to advantage private sector creativity and management skills for expanding social and economic infrastructure services. Vice Minister Lee also indicated that Korea's PPP approach has opened up a significant channel of international cooperation with countries in the region, among which include Bangladesh, Mongolia and Indonesia, as well as with other countries worldwide. The Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on PPPs in 2007, the ASEM Finance Ministers' Meeting in 2008, and now this conference, have all provided important opportunities to further strengthen international exchange and collaboration in the area of PPPs.

Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Vice President of Knowledge Management at ADB, delivered the conference's keynote speech. She highlighted that ADB very much recognizes that the region faces significant demands for infrastructure financing, and that the large infrastructure gaps will have to be filled in order to support the region's continued growth and poverty reduction efforts. She acknowledged that the private sector is going to be an important partner to addressing these challenges, but underlined that the whole area of PPPs is challenging and complex. She indicated that work on strengthening governance, building capacity, formulating reform agendas and creating conditions conducive to private investment will be essential. Ms. Schaefer-Preuss expressed ADB's commitment to supporting this effort and playing a catalytic role in mobilizing private sector resources. In closing, she noted the key roles of KDI and the Government of Korea as a long standing ADB partner in economic and infrastructure development, for spearheading this PPP conference and for sharing Korea's extensive PPP experiences with conference delegates who represent many countries from across the Asia Pacific region.

Country delegates much appreciated the pragmatic and substantive program and opportunities for knowledge sharing on global PPP approaches provided by the conference. However, they emphasized a need for considerable support and advisory assistance for further development and strengthening of PPP frameworks in their respective countries, as well as pragmatic PPP capacity building for public sector officials and transaction support for developing replicable PPP projects across different sectors. The global PPP country and project case studies that were pilot-tested at the conference were very well received and will be developed further and incorporated in the MP3IC global learning program. Delegates articulated the need to expand these materials to cover a greater number of countries and projects across the Asia Pacific region and globally, in order to enable broader relevance for the diverse target audience and specific situational challenges faced by their countries.

The closing session, chaired by Ashok Sharma, Director of the Financial Sector, Public Management and Trade Division for ADB's South Asia Regional Department, provided in-depth input from country delegates on how ADB, ADBI and other development partners can better enable the mainstreaming of PPP project development assistance which can pragmatically address PPP policy, legal, regulatory, institutional and capacity building challenges, and support the mobilization of PPP financing.