Geneva
Many transition economies are facing an infrastructure gap between the infrastructure investments required for the future and the capacity of the public sector to meet those requirements from traditional sources. These infrastructures include, inter alia, transport, energy, water, as well as health and education. Bridging this gap will demand innovative approaches. One approach that interests many countries is public-private partnerships (PPPs). However, the skills required to undertake PPPs are complex and there is a need for training and capacity building within governments if PPP programmes are to be successful.

In order to address this challenge a new UNECE Team of Specialists on PPPs is meeting from 28-29 February in Geneva. This Team is working under the auspices of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Integration, which approved its establishment at its second session (5-7 December 2007). One of the main objectives of this first meeting of the Team of Specialists is to launch a capacity building programme that will include exchange of good practices, elaboration of PPP training modules, conducting of national training programmes and provision of policy and project support.

The new Team consists of experts in PPPs drawn from the public and private sectors, as well as the academic community. It is expected that a pilot project using a number of the training modules will be organized in Moscow in October 2008.

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Ref: ECE/ECID/08/P02