Bridgetown, Barbados, December 14, 2009—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the World Bank Institute are helping train public sector officials from the Caribbean on the fundamentals of public-private partnerships in infrastructure to foster development of infrastructure in the Caribbean region.

IFC and WBI, in collaboration with the Caribbean Development Bank, hosted a four-day seminar in Bridgetown, Barbados, with support from the Canadian International Development Agency. The seminar brought together regional public sector officials who focus on infrastructure. It included sessions on the fundamentals of public-private partnerships; regulatory, legal, and institutional frameworks; governance; procurement and financing; and sector-specific applications of PPPs. Forty-three participants from 13 countries were in attendance.

“The training program aims to expose Caribbean government officials to PPPs, which is a widely used tool internationally to accelerate infrastructure development and to discuss their potential application to the Caribbean,” said Richard Cabello, Head of IFC Infrastructure Advisory Services for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Filip Drapak, World Bank Senior Private Sector Development Specialist Finance, said, “Public-private partnerships will allow governments in the Caribbean to increase efficiency of the management of their infrastructure as well as to increase their fiscal space.”  

Desmond Brunton, Vice President (Operations) for the Caribbean Development Bank, noted in his opening remarks, “Fiscal and debt sustainability are major challenges facing our borrowing member countries. These challenges have been greatly exacerbated by the current global financial and economic crisis. PPPs, for the provision of infrastructure and other services, are an important mechanism for ensuring the delivery of such services, even in the face of the fiscal challenges.”

Since its founding in 1956, IFC has committed $1.25 billion in the Caribbean’s private sector. IFC’s strategy aims to diversify the economies and strengthen private sector competitiveness to stimulate economic growth and job creation. Generating sustainable growth and leveraging comparative advantages are at the forefront of IFC strategy.

IFC is the only international financial institution focused exclusively on the private sector, the engine of sustainable development in emerging markets. Along with IBRD, it is currently seeking a capital increase to strengthen its ability to create opportunity for the poor in developing countries—including by providing training to help local governments foster infrastructure development in the Caribbean.

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit www.ifc.org.

For more information about WBI, visit www.worldbank.org/wbi.
For more information about the Caribbean Development Bank, visit www.caribank.org.
For more information about CIDA, visit www.acdi-cida.gc.ca.