The first global gathering of Public-Private Partnership agencies, PPPI Days 2006, was hosted by the World Bank Institute (WBI) on June 8-9, 2006.

Mr. Paul Noumba Um, leader of the PPP program at WBI, stated that the summit had two primary objectives: “first, to initiate a global network among practitioners… and second, to foster an initial dialogue on the common challenges and best practices for public-private partnerships in infrastructure.” Mr. Noumba explained that, “PPP agencies worldwide face common problems and that knowledge sharing among these agencies has not been actively pursued.”

Challenges for Developing Countries

During her opening remarks, WBI Vice President Ms. Frannie Léautier situated public-private partnerships in the broader infrastructure challenges framework currently facing developing countries. Investments in infrastructure are critical for economic growth, but as Ms. Léautier pointed out: “Today, most of the countries with huge infrastructure investment needs don’t have the fiscal space to address them.”

Developing countries often have a harder time than more economically-developed ones when implementing large infrastructure development programs. This is usually attributed to inefficient regulatory and institutional frameworks and to the lack of strong domestic financial markets.

Reviewing Implementation, Institutional, and Financing Issues

To facilitate the discussions, the event centered around three main topics: institutions, implementation, and financing issues. The conference gathered nearly 40 delegates from 23 countries worldwide (click here for participant list), and resulted in a valuable set of finding and conclusions which were published and distributed to participants.