G20 china_web

Investing in infrastructure
The quantity and quality of planned
investments need to increase
©EBRD/ROBERT HACKMA
living, job creation and enhanced global
competitiveness.
Earlier this year, MDBs pledged
publicly to work together to scale up
our own infrastructure investments and
also to attract that all-important private
sector investment.
Increasing and improving
As MDBs we have a unique opportunity to
catalyse higher levels of private investment
into developing country infrastructure. We
can help overcome obstacles to investment,
build up planning capacity and create the
environments that enable the development
of a pipeline of affordable, bankable and
sustainable projects.
As important as increasing the quantity
of planned investments is our ability to
improve the quality of investments through
our knowledge-sharing platforms. One of
the ways we achieve this is via our work
with the G20’s Global Infrastructure Hub.
Its mandate is to grow the global pipeline
of quality, bankable infrastructure projects.
We also implement our own programmes
for infrastructure project preparation.
By taking steps to increase their own
efficiency and effectiveness, MDBs are
helping to ensure that their contributions
have maximum impact. MDB support for
the recently launched Global Infrastructure
Many tasks lie
ahead, such as
assessing the legal
and regulatory
impediments
to investment
Connectivity Alliance will also provide
greater coordination in the response to the
global infrastructure challenge.
EBRD teams work daily to deliver
infrastructure projects that can transform
whole communities. New opportunities
are opening up with new partners. In June
this year we signed our first project with
the AIIB, providing finance for a motorway
connecting Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe,
with neighbouring Uzbekistan. We also
recently unveiled investments aimed at
improving the road transport system in the
Western Balkans, where integration is an
overriding economic priority.
Making progress
One key aspect of the EBRD’s engagement is
its ability to attract capital market funding
to support infrastructure investments. For
example, we are an anchor investor in a
Eurobond recently launched to finance
the Mersin International Port on Turkey’s
Mediterranean coast. MDBs have our
work cut out, especially in identifying and
helping to remove the bottlenecks that
hinder greater levels of private and public
sector infrastructure investment.
Many technical tasks lie ahead, such
as assessing the legal and regulatory
impediments to investment, choosing
the financial instruments best attuned to
attracting private investors, standardising
documentation and procedures and sharing
knowledge among the various parties. We
shall not shy away from this work. We are
determined to embrace it as we concentrate
on achieving the longer-term goal of
delivering the infrastructure that the
global economy needs.
In July, G20 finance ministers asked
the MDBs to report regularly on the status
of their pledge to increase infrastructure
investment and to catalyse additional
private investment. I am confident that
we will be able to demonstrate that real
progress has been made. G20
Sir Suma
Chakrabarti
President
European Bank
for Reconstruction
and Development
Sir Suma Chakrabarti is the sixth
President of the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD) and was re-elected for
a second four-year term in 2016.
Before arriving at the EBRD he
held the position of Permanent
Secretary at the British Ministry
of Justice and was its most senior
civil servant. Previously, Sir Suma
headed the United Kingdom’s
Department for International
Development. He also worked
in the UK Treasury and in the
Cabinet Office.
@ebrdsuma
www.ebrd.com
G7G20.com September 2016 • G20 China: The Hangzhou Summit 131