B. Introductory Remarks

Bernd Schleich
Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e.V. (CDG)
Germany

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e.V., I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the International Conference on Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Environmental Services in Bonn.

We are glad that so many representatives of ministries, national and multinational organisations, implementing organisations of international development cooperation, NGOs, and academic institutions have accepted the joint invitation of CDG and the UNDP. It was certainly not only the attractiveness of the Conference city of Bonn that led to this encouraging high number of international guests.

There seems to be an urgent need to discuss Public-Private Partnerships in the field of urban infrastructure, an issue that is becoming more and more important with respect to development cooperation.

It would be an exaggeration to call it a change in paradigms. I believe, however, that five to ten years ago such a conference would have received a minor response. What is the reason for the current level of interest now?

It is no longer only countries in Africa, Asia or Latin America who see more and more clearly that growing urban populations have to be provided with appropriate technological and social infrastructures, or that existing infrastructure systems have to be operated efficiently and in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner. Increasingly, the public sector alone cannot bear all the costs involved; many urban sanitation utilities also lack the necessary management skills.

On the other hand, several examples exist where full privatisation of infrastructure has not actually improved the quality of services, and where an entrepreneurial approach has not necessarily lead to the use of environmentally and socially sustainable technologies and processes. It is the job of public bodies to ensure that perfectly justified entrepreneurial interests are reconciled with matters of public concern.

Against this background it is only logical to look for win-win options that combine both objectives. Various models that involve the private sector in the building and operation of urban infrastructure, like water supply, waste water treatment, waste disposal, transportation or power supply have given momentum to the discussion on the original tasks of local authorities, and on possible synergies through cooperation with private enterprises.

Models for cooperation like management contracts, BOTs (Build-Operate-Transfer) or mixed-capital companies have not only become a success story in developing countries, they are also used in the "new lander" of Eastern Germany and in Eastern Europe, for example. Later we will have the opportunity to discuss these models in more detail.

Within this context I would like to mention that in Germany our positive experience in the field of urban infrastructure has compelled us to try new forms of collaboration between the public and the private sector in other areas of development cooperation, too.

This positive experience encouraged us to look for ways to explicitly support such a model in developing countries, and led to the foundation of the Public-Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment (PPPUE) Programme at UNDP. The PPP issue has also become a central aspect of CDG's efforts concerning urban infrastructure.

CDG began cooperating with UNDP at the end of 1998 to promote public-private partnerships in the field of urban infrastructure through training and international dialogue. This conference represents a second step of this cooperation, following a joint workshop on PPP with representatives of city administrations and infrastructure companies from Andean countries in Lima, Peru in December 1998. We will provide more information on that workshop later. The goal of this conference is to learn more about the role of PPP in development cooperation in other countries and to talk about strategies for promoting these models more effectively. If we are able to network with the various relevant actors interested in PPP, I am sure that this conference will have established an important foundation for future cooperation.

As you certainly have noticed, this conference is primarily directed at institutions and organisations of international development cooperation; enterprises are not represented. There is a reason for this: together with UNDP we felt it made sense to concentrate on donor and implementing organisations during this conference, and to extend the multi-donor initiative for small- and medium-sized investments established by UNDP.

At the same time we want to take this opportunity to prepare a follow-up conference that will be directed primarily at enterprises and hosted by CDG and UNDP during EXPO 2000, to which we would like to invite all of you. There will also be a marketplace for cooperation opportunities, for which we are going to provide support using modern information technology.

As an organisation of international personnel development that itself represents a kind of joint venture between state and industry, CDG sees a special challenge in this issue. We are looking forward to a fruitful discussion during the next two conference days and hope that you will feel at home in the Federal City of Bonn, which as you might know is becoming the German Centre for International Cooperation (CIC). As a CIC-partner, we felt it our duty to contribute and help this project become a reality.

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