International Conference "Public-Private Partnerships in the water and sanitation sector: an exchange of experiences between Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa", October 21 - 22, 2014, Geneva (Switzerland)

The organizers of the Conference - UNECE, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank.

At the conference it was discussed (conference program) the successful experience of implementation of PPP projects in water and sanitation sector, defined problems to  be solved, discussed the priority tasks on implementation of water-related Millennium Development Goals.

Among the participants of the conference were Olena Kucherenko, the director of investment, innovation and PPP Department of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine  and Irina Zapatrina, the Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian PPP Development Support Center. They have made a joint presentation: Public-Private Partnerships in Ukraine: importance, bottlenecks and prospects.

At the conference it was announced the establishment on the initiative of the UNECE of International PPPs Center on water and sanitation, defined its tasks for 2015.

The objective of activity of the International PPPs Center on water and sanitation under the UNECE is recognized  promotion of private funding attraction for modernization of infrastructure of water supply and sanitation systems, conduction of irrigation activities in low- and middle-income countries where the public requires improving of access to quality water and sanitation. Achieving this objective will be ensured through identification and dissemination of best practices of public-private partnerships in water and sanitation, development of international standards on these issues, preparation of methodological materials that would assist in achieving of sustainable development goals of the United Nations to ensure the efficiency and availability of water supply and sanitation.

Each year, the Center will organize an international conference to discuss the achievements in water and sanitation systems development on the basis of public-private partnerships, priorities in this area and creation of favorable environment for private sector attraction to restoration of corresponding infrastructure.

The activity of the International PPPs Center on water and sanitation will be coordinated by UNECE and ensured through initiative participation in conductyion of researches of its members - expert institutions as well as sponsor contribution of private sector and international organizations.

The Center is organized in form of cluster, whose members are: Section on PPPs of the World Bank, the Organization of the Global Water Partnership, the Council of the Mediterranean countries, representatives of Ukraine, India, the Philippines, South Africa, the leading international water companies Violia, Akvafed. The representatives of Ukraine in International PPPs Center on water and sanitation of UNECE are the Ukrainian PPP Development Support Center and the Academy of Public-Private Partnership. The main direction, for which the Ukrainian institutions – the members of the cluster will be responsible is "Small and medium-sized public-private partnerships in the water and sanitation sector."