Participants engaging in discussions
  JBIC’s Masaaki Amma

An international conference on public infrastructure development by utilizing public private partnership (PPP) was held on October 15-16, 2009, in Seoul, Korea.

The conference was co-hosted by the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission, and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance of Korea, based on the Jeju Initiative proposed by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance at the 8th ASEM Finance Ministers’ Meeting^.*1*2 JBIC’s Masaaki Amma, Head of International Finance Department, West Japan, made a presentation in the conference.

The two-day conference brought together about 170 people, including Vice Minister Young Geol Lee of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance in Korea, Deputy Secretary-General Mario Amano of the OECD, government officials of 25 countries in the EU and Asia, representatives of 6 multilateral institutions (including the IMF, the World Bank and ADB) and other participants from credit-rating agencies, consultancies and business firms in Seoul.

The focus of the conference was to analyze the repercussions of the financial market turmoil in the U.S. and Europe and the subsequent deep recession on PPP projects, and to share our knowledge and experiences in an effort to find creative solutions to promote future PPP development.^*3 Upon request from the Ministry of Finance of Japan, Mr. Amma gave a presentation titled “How to Benefit Most from PPP” in the third session on the first day of the conference. He talked primarily about Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects in Japan and PPP projects in Asia from the perspective of a finance practitioner.

Among the participants largely consisted of government officials making policy for PPP, Mr. Amma expressed his views based on the experience in engaging in finance procedures and practices for overseas PPP infrastructure projects, as well as in conducting advisory service and appraisal for PFI projects in Japan.

Referring to PPP infrastructure projects in Asia, Mr. Amma particularly emphasized the need for the legal documentation that incorporates appropriate risk sharing between the public and private sectors by describing his experience in structuring finance.

JBIC will continue to disseminate financing knowhow on infrastructure development projects through participation in international conferences.

• Power point presentation "How to benefit most from PPP"