PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS WITH POOR COMMUNITIES BEST WAY TO BEAT POVERTY, REGIONAL COMMISSION CHIEF SAYS AT SPECIAL SESSION OF ASIA-PACIFIC EVENT

Public-Private Partnerships with poor communities best way to beat poverty,

regional commission chief says at special session of aSia-pacific event

(Reissued as received.)

SHANGHAI, 23 April (UN Information Service) -- The best way to beat poverty in the Asian and Pacific region may lie in forging mutually beneficial partnerships between governments, private companies and poor communities according to Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Addressing a special event on Pro-Poor Public Private Partnerships on the inaugural day of UNESCAP’s Sixtieth Commission Session in Shanghai, China, Hak-Su said that such partnerships were urgently required to tackle the problem of nearly 800 million people living below $1 a day in the region.

“While governments often lack the resources to alleviate poverty, the private sector, despite having both the expertise and resources, does not take up such responsibility as it does not make good business sense”, Hak-Su said, welcoming participants to the interactive session on UNESCAP’s Pro-Poor Public Private Partnerships, or 5 Ps project. He recommended such partnerships as an alternative to overcome both the resource constraints of governments and the indifference of private companies to providing basic services to the poor.

The 5 Ps project, launched in early 2003 seeks to establish viable, workable partnership models between the public and private sectors along with communities to provide basic services such as water, health care, energy and biodiversity to the poor.  Four demonstration projects in these areas are currently being implemented in Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Delivering an address at the event Liu Yonghao, Chairman of China’s New Hope Group said that the right combination of “profit and justice” was required to involve private entrepreneurs in the task of combating poverty.  Referring to the “Guangcai Programme”, launched jointly by the Chinese Government and private entrepreneurs nearly a decade ago to combat poverty, Mr. Yonghao said its success was based on the joint development of private enterprises and the poor.

Under the Guangcai programme, private companies in China are encouraged to bring capital, technology and other expertise to poor and remote regions of the country and make investments on suitable projects.  Since the initiation of the programme over 52.3 billion RMB have been invested in 9,765 projects, providing training to 2.4 million people and creating 5 million jobs.  Mr. Yonghao is the Deputy Director-General of the China Society for Promotion of the Guangcai Programme.

Speaking on the same occasion, M. Raziuddin, Chief Executive Office of Attock Refinery Ltd., Pakistan said that the concept of pro-poor public private partnerships could usher in a virtual revolution in the outlook and operations of the corporate sector in future.  Attock Refinery Ltd., is the private sector partner in a UNESCAP 5 P demonstration project at Morgah, Pakistan that seeks to promote and preserve biodiversity to benefit poor communities.

According to Mr. Raziuddin, as a private company focused on profits for its shareholders he saw great potential in entering into partnerships with both the government and communities in ventures that would benefit all involved.  In the specific case of the UNESCAP project to promote biodiversity he said that biodiversity products had a rapidly growing market and entering the business early was a sound decision for his company.

Ravi Sawhney, Team Leader for the UNESCAP 5 P project pointed out that the 5 P concept was different from the normal “corporate social responsibility” model which depended on charity from rich companies to help the poor.  According to him, the 5 P approaches, by involving the private sector in market-friendly ventures, ensured its long-term viability while at the same time ensuring benefits for governments and communities.

The second phase of UNESCAP’s 18-month-long 5 P project, supported by the Royal Government of the Netherlands, is likely to be launched soon after the current phase ends in October, this year.

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