Cambodia first Asian nation to join global infrastructure fund

At this year’s WEF conference in Davos, Cambodia became the first Asian country to sign on to the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership (SDIP).

The initiative initiative that aims to unlock the funding of infrastructure projects through public-private sector partnerships worldwide.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said at the conference: “If we review project development in our country, you could fill several warehouses with all the plans that have been shelved because they lacked financing.”

Cambodia is already a member of many Asian infrastructure funds, Sen noted; he praised the $40 billion Silk Road infrastructure fund, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the One Belt, One Road initiative. Ultimately, he said that Cambodia needed more investment to develop its infrastructure.

The prime minister also revealed his hopes that the SDIP will lead private sector funds into four projects that include a new airport, a new highway, road upgrades, and a large-scale nationwide railway upgrade.

Keiko Honda, executive vice president of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a part of the World Bank said, “Right now there is a huge gap in infrastructure financing and we need to leverage more private investment.”

Jayant Menon, lead economist for Asian Development Bank’s Office for Regional Economic Integration, said the nation needs to, “Strengthen its institutions and improve governance to create confidence in an investment climate conducive to lumpy, long-term investments.”

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SOURCE: [Phnom Penh Post]