Jeddah/Tashkent, 22 August 2021 – A virtual event has brought together high-level officials and top-notch experts on investment and regional connectivity to explore ways for facilitating strategies to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The get together was a side event held on 22^nd August 2021 in conjunction with the 2021 Annual Meetings of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group.

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, Mr. Shukhrat Vafaev; Head of IsDB’s Regional Hub in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Mr. Ibrahim Shukri; Manager of IsDB’s Alternative Development Finance, Mr. Mohammed el Habib Chenguiti Ansari; Director of Transport and Communications of ECO Secretatriat, Mr. Akbar Khodaei; Additional General Manager of Infrastructure of Pakistan’s Railways, Mr. Asif Mateen Zaidi;  and Secretary to UNECE Working Party on Transport Trends and Economics, Mr. Roel Janssens.

This event focused on sharing experiences, approaches and knowledge of stakeholders in successfully financing regional infrastructure projects. It also highlighted IsDB’s flagship Regional Infrastructure Supranational Entity (RISE) model, a new innovative structure, to demonstrate how it can be structured to finance a regional project. 

Also, featuring in the discussions were a wide array of topics including Complex Intergovernmental Arrangements required for financing and implementation of regional projects, Managing Political Risks entailed in regional projects, Issues of Disparate Policy and Regulatory Environments and Coordination across national standards, Cost and Benefit Allocation in financing structures, Economic and financial viability of projects and viability gap funding, Overview of RISE modality with possible application to a regional project, and Role of regional integration promotion bodies in mobilizing financing.

Financing and operationalization of cross-border regional projects is a complex venture. Most of these projects have high socio-economic return and could generate large private returns if structured and implemented properly.

The financing of cross-border projects often requires a multitude of stakeholders ranging from national governments, international financial institutions to private investors. Coordinating multiple sources of funding through a suitable mechanism to finance the entire project lifecycle requires innovative financing modalities.

Successful financial structuring of such projects also calls for brokering political and commercial deals to bring together various stakeholders. MDBs and regional development institutions can play a critical role in this context to catalyze and coordinate financing and enable risk sharing to mobilize private funding.