In partnership with the Ministry of Transportation and Equipment of the Kingdom of Morocco, on April 17 and 18 2013, Economic Development and Globalization Division is holding an Expert Group Meeting entitled “Unlocking Infrastructure Investments and Mobilizing Financial Resources in the Arab region”. This is a relatively new area of involvement of this Division and it is a result of increasing demand from the member states to provide them with technical assistance in the area of infrastructure development and financing.

Arab countries are facing challenging socio-economic realities, with reduced public spending, foreign direct investments and private investments, along with increasing infrastructure needs. The mounting pressure of fast growing urban population and climate change, is putting further strain on already limited urban infrastructure.

While availability and access to financing are fundamental drivers for the successful development of any infrastructure project, investments have been mainly hampered by issues arising from weaknesses in infrastructure strategies and implementation, in particular related to the assessment of infrastructure needs and the appropriate funding mechanisms; in sanctioning sectors and projects priorities with lack of sound feasibility analysis and due diligence, followed by flaws in structuring and execution.

Besides facilitating the exchange of knowledge, experience and good practices in structuring and financing infrastructure projects in the region, this Expert Group Meeting aims at identifying feasible approaches and viable solutions based on the experience of public officials and private sector investors. A wide spectrum of public sector officials, representatives of international financial institutions and the private sector, are participating in this two-day meeting.
 
This event will also serve as a platform to launch the ESCWA Infrastructure Investments and Public-Private Partnerships Initiative, in cooperation with the UNECE International Centre of Excellence on PPPs.