Pacific Participants Hear Caribbean Experience of Public Private Partnerships
[Nadi, Fiji – May 30] Implementing public private partnerships (PPP) requires effort, patience and is full of challenges, the participants at the Regional Roundtable on Promoting Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for Local Economic Development in the Pacific heard today.
Carol Ayoung, the Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Association of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry made this comment while sharing the Caribbean region’s experience of the public and private sectors working together to deliver services.
“In the Caribbean, public private partnerships (PPP) has been implemented with varying levels of success. PPP has succeeded where there has been a level of trust and good track record of delivery,” she said.
“For public private partnerships to work, it needs to be a win-win situation,” she said.
“It is important to select the right opportunity to pursue PPP as it is important to ensure that there is benefit to all parties involved,” she said.
Ms Ayoung said that amongst the many players in the success of PPP in the Caribbean, the role of Caribbean Development Bank as a regional financial institution has helped in providing PPP financing.
The Caribbean Development Bank’s support to PPP financing has created interest in the Pacific.
Hafiz Khan, the Chairman of Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) said, “The Pacific needs to emulate the Caribbean experience and work towards setting up a Regional Development Bank, with the specific goal of being able to provide not only PPP financing but also “seed” funding for SME s and Women In Business. Lack of capital and “access to financing” has been identified as the major constraint in private sector development in the Pacific; with lack of collateral, expertise etc being key “down features” negating normal finance/equity availability via the conventional institutions.”
He further added that there will be significant improvement in local service delivery with active role of local private sector with the help of PPP financing.
The Roundtable is attended by more than 90 private sector representatives, national and local government officials, development partners and members of the civil society from around the Pacific
It is organized by UNDP through the Pacific Centre and the Asia Pacific Regional Centre in Bangkok, in partnership with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation and the Pacific Leadership Programme.
The Pacific Island countries attending the Roundtable include the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
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For further information, contact: Shobhna Decloitre, UNDP Communications Specialist on (679) 9926396 or Shobhna.decloitre@undp.org
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