Canada is committed to broadening and deepening its engagement with the private sector to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty in developing countries. To this end, the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today announced new Canadian support promoting public-private partnerships (P3s) to help stimulate sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.
Canada is contributing $20 million over four years to support the work of the Asia Pacific Project Preparation Facility, managed by the Asian Development Bank. The facility will help countries in the Asia-Pacific region develop commercially viable P3 infrastructure projects that will attract and secure financing from private sector sources. It will target key sectors, including transport and logistics, and energy (ranging from generation to transmission and distribution), as well as urban services (such as water, sanitation, waste management and urban transport).
The facility will help developing countries prepare a pipeline of “ready to finance” infrastructure investments and will improve policies and regulatory and legal frameworks associated with infrastructure investments. It will facilitate support in the areas of conducting due diligence, addressing the impediments to investment decisions, supporting project design and assisting with preparing, structuring and placing projects with private investors.
The facility provides an opportunity to build on Canadian support for national P3 centres in the Philippines and in Indonesia, as well as for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Infrastructure Centre of Excellence based in Singapore, by expanding access for all Asian Development Bank developing-country members to technical assistance to build national capacity for P3s in infrastructure and move forward key infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region.
Canada’s commitment to contribute to the Asia Pacific Project Preparation Facility also complements the Redesigning Development Finance Initiative. Chaired by Minister Paradis, the initiative is a joint global project between the World Economic Forum and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee that creates the conditions for innovative public-private blended finance partnership models in sectors such as infrastructure and agriculture.
