Sustainable and climate finance needs in Central Asia are considerable, with an estimated 38 billion US dollars per year up to 2030. On the other hand, the total foreign direct investment flows in the region in 2022 amounted to 10 billion US dollars. The infrastructure finance gap is therefore huge, and private finance remains crucial to meet the sustainable infrastructure needs in Central Asia.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can be a mechanism for countries to attract climate finance and develop their sustainable infrastructure and public services. Unlike traditional PPPs, with an exclusive focus on value for money, the UNECE approach to PPPs in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offers a solution to develop sustainable infrastructure and public services that contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by also creating value for people the planet, while attracting sustainable and climate finance.
However, identifying and developing such projects is often a challenge for public officials, especially in low- and middle-income countries. To this end, UNECE has recently launched a unique and practical evaluation methodology to assess infrastructure projects against the SDGs and the PPPs for the SDGs approach: the UNECE PPP and Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS).
Recently, UNECE joined forces with the US Department of Commerce and the Eurasian Development Bank and held two training sessions in:
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Bishkek, 27 September 2023: for 35 public officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; and
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Dushanbe, 3 October 2023: for more than 50 public officials from Tajikistan.
Speaking at the training session in Dushanbe, Mr. Saidmurod Rakhmonov from the PPP Center of Tajikistan expressed his country’s intention to use PIERS. Similarly, at the training session in Bishkek, the Chairman of the Investment Council in Kyrgyzstan, Mr. Uluk Kydyrbaev, recognised the usefulness of PIERS to improve the legal and regulatory framework by providing references to international best practices such as the Standard on a Zero Tolerance Approach to Corruption in PPP Procurement and other UNECE standards, tools and guides on PPPs for the SDGs.
UNECE will conduct more trainings on PIERS in the UNECE region and beyond and assist public officials to evaluate projects. In particular, a joint capacity-building project will be launched in the first quarter of 2024 with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to implement PIERS in six countries in Africa, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.
For more information, please visit: https://unece.org/ppp.