MINSK, 21 October (BelTA) – Representatives of the Business Advisory Board of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will visit Belarus for the sake of taking part in the work of the National Infrastructure Council, BelTA learned from representatives of the Public Relations Department of the Belarusian Economy Ministry.
The relevant arrangements were made when Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister Alexander Zaborovsky met with Chairman of the UNECE Business Advisory Board James Stewart in Geneva. The Board's representatives will come to Minsk to take part in the work of the National Infrastructure Council and discuss investment policy and the utilization of public private partnership instruments on 28 October. By tapping into the experience of international experts Belarus will be able to borrow the world's best practices and make its investment policy more effective.
According to the source, Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister Alexander Zaborovsky is in Geneva, Switzerland on 20-22 October upon the invitation of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. In Geneva the official is taking part in the work of the UNECE Committee on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Public Private Partnership. The Committee's session is expected to focus on investment policy measures and public private partnership mechanisms that can be used to ensure sustainable economic growth and the accomplishment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Representatives of 56 countries came to Geneva to take part in the Committee's work.
In his speech during the plenary session of the forum, Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister Alexander Zaborovsky noted that the development of mutually beneficial partnership between the state and the private sector is a most important component of Belarus' economic strategy and a factor crucial to accelerating economic growth. The official mentioned Belarus' considerable progress in developing the institutional foundation for public private partnership. In particular, the law on public private partnership has come into force, a national infrastructure strategy has been adopted, and the practical implementation of a pilot public private partnership project in the area of road infrastructure has been launched.
The Belarusian delegation backed initiatives of the UNECE experts, who spoke in favor of developing and assimilating guidelines for effective management of public private partnership for the common good. Alexander Zaborovsky noted in his speech that people should be the main beneficiaries and need priority attention. “Such an approach fully conforms to the experience and peculiarities of Belarus' social and economic development. We support making this principle part of the guidelines,” said Alexander Zaborovsky.
On the sidelines of the forum Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister Alexander Zaborovsky met with a number of people. During the meeting with Director of the Economic Cooperation, Trade and Land Management Division of the Secretariat of the UNECE Committee on Innovation, Competitiveness, and Public Private Partnership Virginia Cram-Martos the Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister informed the other party about the Economy Ministry's initiative to set up a high-profile working group in the government to coordinate measures meant to implement the sustainable development goals in Belarus. Alexander Zaborovsky also mentioned intermediate results of the joint work the Economy Ministry and the National Statistics Committee of Belarus do to analyze the possibility of integrating sustainable development goal indicators into the national statistics system and using them to put together a long-term economic strategy. The work was praised by UNECE experts and reflects Belarus' effective approach to implementing the sustainable development goals.
Virginia Cram-Martos and Alexander Zaborovsky also discussed progress in preparing for the conference that will be held in Minsk on 26-27 October to discuss laying down the foundation for economic integration and sustainable development in the UNECE region till 2030. The conference is being organized by the Belarusian government and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Over 100 delegates from the UNECE region are expected to take part in the conference to discuss topical matters of economic development and integration on the European continent. A panel session will be arranged by the Belarusian Economy Ministry to discuss investments and innovations.
Apart from that, Belarusian First Deputy Economy Minister Alexander Zaborovsky met with Laurence Carter, Senior Director of the Public Private Partnership Group in the World Bank, for the sake of discussing encouraging public private partnership to the tune of $8.25 million as part of the project the World Bank is putting together to bolster the competitive ability in the Republic of Belarus. The general approach to beefing up the institutional potential in the area of public private partnership will be focused on instructional and technical support for the public private partnership center in Belarus, potential development and personnel training, formation of the portfolio of potential public private partnership projects, and preparation of pilot public private partnership projects. The project's implementation is supposed to begin in Q2 2017.
Representatives of the Public Relations Department of the Belarusian Economy Ministry told BelTA that work in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe represents an effective instrument for objectively informing UNECE members about the social and economic development of the country. It also offers a good way to request expert and technical support from the UNECE. It is also a good way to work out decisions and recommendations on topical aspects of social and economic development.
