China and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) have signed a new agreement to strengthen Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the region.
They inked the deal with a key focus on improving access to infrastructure services such as water, energy and transport to deliver sustainable development outcomes in the Asia-Pacific countries.
The partnership will help PPP project development contributing to regional connectivity, including as promoted by the Belt and Road Initiative, according to a media statement.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP Dr Shamshad Akhtar said that PPP can be a powerful tool for effectively pursuing sustainable development.
“Developing Asia will have to invest $26 trillion in infrastructure between 2016 and 2030 to effectively support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” said Dr Akhtar.
“This scale of investment requirement far exceeds the limited public budgets so raising public revenues and leveraging private finance and skills through public-private partnerships is vital,” he said.
Dr Akhtar said this at the signing ceremony on the sidelines of the 3rd China Public-Private Partnership Financing Forum in Shanghai on Wednesday.
The investment is equivalent to some 6.0 per cent of GDP annually, when incorporating the cost of building climate friendly infrastructure, and more than 2.0 per cent of GDP above the current investment levels.
Financing gaps for least developed, landlocked and small island developing countries are steeper at roughly 10.5 per cent of GDP.
ESCAP’s partnership with the China PPP Centre will strengthen a network of PPP units in the region to support exchange of best practices from Asia and the Pacific.
It will also facilitate the identification of PPP models for developing infrastructure networks that can contribute to regional connectivity and the 2030 Agenda.