HRH Willem-Alexander, the Prince of Orange of the Netherlands, speaks at SIWW

About 10,000 people involved in water infrastructure gathered in Singapore from around the world to participate in Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) in June 2009. The Japanese pavilion introduced 11 corporations and groups, and their highly advanced water treatment and plant technologies attracted much positive attention. HRH Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange of the Netherlands, who is serving as Chairperson of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, stressed the importance of water resources and urged that sanitation be given a higher priority. He said that for every dollar invested in wastewater treatment, the payback for society is ninefold.

One SIWW event was the Forum on Financing for Water Infrastructure & Technologies organized by JBIC, the World Bank, and PUB Singapore (Singapore's national water agency). The position JBIC expressed during the forum was that, even though it is now difficult to procure capital because of the global financial crisis, investments in water infrastructure projects should continue without delay. Mr. Fumio Hoshi, JBIC's Executive Director, attracted the attention of the more than 200 forum participants when he announced that JBIC would serve as a catalyst by supporting some of the capital procurement requirements of the private sector through public-private financial partnerships (PPFP). This initiative follows the trend toward greater dependence on private enterprise and privatization.

Population growth, worsening pollution and climate change are some of the issues now threatening the planet's water cycle, and for this reason too, water infrastructure projects are being regarded as an increasingly important tool for protecting the environment. JBIC offers powerful financing tools and has used them effectively in the past, as seen, for example, in its project finance support for desalination projects, and its equity investment in an environment fund in China. JBIC will take advantage of this type of experience and expertise to offer comprehensive support for overseas water infrastructure projects promoted by IWPPs and Japanese companies.