Global: Regional Round Tables on Infrastructure Governance

The objective of the Infrastructure Governance Roundtables was to move policymakers and practitioners towards better approaches, standards and tools which significantly improve infrastructure governance. Three round-tables were prepared as part of this activity, the first one in Cape Town (November 2-3, 2017), which recognized that difficulties have been experienced to date in meeting the sustainable infrastructure investment, due to poor public sector governance standards. The second round-table occurred in Abidjan (June 21-22, 2018) which built on the discussions in Cape Town reaffirming the importance of governance standards for improving the performance of infrastructure projects. And finally the third and final round-table took place in Seoul on May 23-24, 2018. It focused on the importance of regulation and transparency towards a better infrastructure governance. The roundtables respond to the call to action from the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement (2015 COP21). The AAAA called on the MDBs to establish the Global Infrastructure Forum (Forum) in order to “improve alignment and coordination among established and new infrastructure initiatives” while bringing together the full range of stakeholders. In the April 2017 Forum, the MDBs and the partners agreed that their concerted efforts should focus on the following main priorities: The strengthening of investment capacity, policy and governance frameworks of public authorities; the enhancement of private sector involvement and finance by creating an enabling environment; the enhancement of the catalytic role of MDBs.