The progress of government’s public-private partnership (PPP) for sustainable development is very slow, said International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman on Thursday.
He made the remark at a press briefing on Thursday at Hotel Intercontinental in the capital, concluding the three-day “The Asia-Pacific conference on financing inclusive and sustainable development”.
“The government formed public-private partnership (PPP) for sustainable development but we see that the PPP run very slowly. It was not expected at all, said Mahbubur.
The Private sector could play a vital role for infrastructure development and the government should give the opportunities to them, he added.
“The government decided to build Padma Bridge with country’s own financing and the private sector came up to lent support. It proves that with proper government support we can achieve greater economic growth,” he said.
He said financing is the key challenge to achieve SGD goals, “So the government should enable private sector with appropriate measures,’ he added.
The ICC president said Policy reforms, boosting private sector, and developing public-private partnership are essential for sustainable development,
He said regulating and mobilizing financing resources, framing up long-term action plan, access to the market, access to information, and access to finance and access to skills were extremely crucial for sustainable development.
The Conference strongly suggested the development partners and participating agencies to provide more analysis and capacity-building support on comprehensive financing strategies as well as regional and global standards.
The Conference emphasized the need to improve the level of national governance and resource management to develop infrastructure and provide quality public services through good social and governance (ESG) framework, Mahbubur Rahman said.
Speakers in the three-day conference urged the government to ensure new financing mechanisms, robust institutional governance to face the challenges of poverty alleviation and climate change.
They also suggested digitalization for sustainable banking system; Establishing more micro-credit mechanisms for financial inclusiveness; Ease of information availability and transparency to attract FDI; Improving logistic and transport system to ensure efficient financing; Special emphasis would need to be put on Fintech and Women empowerment in order to flourish MSMEs for sustainable development.
He said the Conference requested the development partners to continue supporting countries in Asia and the Pacific to enhance private investments strengthen the banking sector and improve SMEs’ access to finance.
Dr. Tientip Subhanij, chief of MPFD of UN ESCAP, Arijit Chowdhury, additional secretary of Finance Ministry also were presented the press briefing.
