In particular, the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Development organized and hosted by the Republic of Korea in October 2007 provided an opportunity to Ministers and senior government officials to be exposed to practices in successful countries. The Conference supported the creation of an institutional network of PPP units and related institutions (Asia-Pacific Regional Public-Private Partnerships Network for Infrastructure Development). High-level government officials and Ministers from ESCAP member countries exchanged country experiences and provided policy guidance.
Back-to-back with the Ministerial Conference, the ESCAP secretariat organized a High-level Expert group Meeting on Public-Private partnerships for Infrastructure Development in Seoul, Republic of Korea (October 2007). The Meeting was designed to provide an opportunity for various government institutions to discuss issues of common concern in the area of public-private partnerships for infrastructure Development.
A Workshop on Public-Private Partnerships for Infrastructure Projects was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in January 2009. The objective of the Workshop was to provide a comprehensive understanding to the government officials of Bangladesh about Public-Private Partnerships in the infrastructure. A wide range of senior officials and experts of different ministries and government departments/agencies from Bangladesh participated at the workshop including a large representation from the Planning Commission. The Workshop contributed in bringing important policy changes in the Government with regard to PPPs. A consensus also emerged that more such workshops needed to be arranged specially for officials in the Planning Commission who deal with developmental projects.
The ESCAP secretariat in collaboration with the secretariats of ECE and ECA organized an Interregional Expert group Meeting on Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Development in Bangkok, Thailand, in February 2009. The Meeting was organized as part of activities undertaken within the framework of a UN Development Account project on capacity building in PPP for infrastructure development. The meeting was attended by senior government officials from ECA, ECE and ESCAP regions, experts from the public and private sectors including representatives of PPP Units in governments, representatives of international and donor organizations and Non-governmental Organizations. Representatives of countries made presentations on their policies and experiences in implementing PPP programmes and projects. A number of important issues related to PPP development in their countries were also raised. The meeting considered the importance and usefulness of establishing an alliance of PPP units and programmes in governments in support to providing a mechanism for those units and programmes to network and exchange experience with each other.
An Expert Group Meeting on Financing for Transport Infrastructure was organized at Bangkok in December 2009 with the objective of bringing together representatives of member States, international and bilateral donors and organizations, and taking stock of infrastructure-related initiatives in member States. Recognizing the leading and important role of international financing institutions, donors and other development partners and private sector in developing and upgrading the region's road and rail, the Meeting requested for continued financial and technical assistance to member States with particular focus given to the implementation of projects related to the development of the Asian highways and Trans-Asian Railway networks. The Meeting noted also with interest the growing implementation of Public Private Partnerships in infrastructure projects and encouraged member States to pursue Policy measures to create an enabling institutional environment for such partnerships. In this context, the representative of the Russian Federation informed the meeting that his Government was increasingly turning to Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for the development of infrastructure and, in 2006, set up a special investment fund to facilitate the collaboration of public and private sectors in the implementation of complex investment projects.