On April 17, 2023, the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) held its 15th Advisory Council Meeting, “Sustainable Infrastructure in the New Development Era.” The meeting had strong global participation from private sector investors, multilateral development banks (MDBs), funding partners, infrastructure leaders, and observers. The speakers discussed the latest innovation and pathways aligned with achieving climate commitments. In addition, the GIF, its MDB Technical Partners, and client countries presented tangible investment opportunities in the Transport and Energy sectors, including the latest updates on Egypt’s Green Hydrogen program from The Egyptian Sovereign Fund. Discussions focused on barriers and solutions to mobilize private capital more effectively, programmatic approaches, and bringing in the private sector early. Please see a high-level summary of the event below:
The day’s discussions were enriched by all in attendance. Specifically, topics explored, and questions debated at this meeting allowed us to focus on the latest innovation and pathways aligned with the scale and urgency required to achieve climate commitments. We set the scene by emphasizing the role of project preparation, risk mitigation, and credit enhancements. The Panel Discussion was moderated by Imad Fakhoury, Global Director, Infrastructure, PPPs & Guarantees, World Bank & GIF Governing Council Co-Chair, and the Panelists included:
- Alexia Latortue, Assistant Secretary for International Trade and Development, U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Stephanie Von Friedeburg, Managing Director DFI Strategic Partnerships, Banking and Capital Markets Advisory, Citibank
- Rafael Sabonge, Minister of Public Works, Panama
- Reynaldi Hermansjah, President Director & Chief Executive Officer, PT Indonesia Infrastructure Finance
- James Mnyupe, Economic Advisor to the President, Republic of Namibia
The insightful presentations during the project market soundings from Transport and Energy sectors ranged from Egypt, Namibia and Panama.
- Rafael Sabonge, Minister of Public Works, Panama
- Matthew Jordan-Tank, Director, Sustainable Infrastructure Policy & Project Preparation, EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)
- James Mnyupe, Economic Advisor to the President, Republic of Namibia
- <Gadi Taj Ndahumba, Chief Legal Counsel, Energy & Sovereign Debt, African Legal Support Facility
- Karim Badr,CEO (Chief Executive Officer), Infrastructure and Utilities Subfund, The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE)
Followed by interactive and energetic parallel breakout sessions on the pipeline development cycle and towards financial close to discussing key market constraints and potential innovations to improve transparency, as well as market-sounding approaches to create, identify, prioritize, structure, and procure sustainable infrastructure with strong private sector participation from the outset; as well as explored key market constraints, innovative financial structures, credit enhancement mechanisms and other practical ideas to foster Private Capital Mobilization. The event ended with closing remarks from Julia Prescot, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Meridiam, Guangzhe Chen the new Co-Chair of the GIF Advisory Council, and Imad Fakhoury, Global Director for Infrastructure Finance, PPPs & Guarantees, World Bank. Julia, Guang, and Imad highlighted the role the GIF can play in delivering infrastructure investments through project preparation and collaboration across public decision-makers, multi-lateral development banks, and private financiers.
READ THE EVENT SUMMARY HERE
