As one of the flagship side-events at the Third International Conference on Finance for Development, a Consultative Session on the Financing of Sustainable Infrastructure was held at Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa on Monday (July 13, 2015).
The Consultative Session was organized by the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on Monetary Affairs and Development and the Brookings Institution. Ethiopia's Minister of Finance and Economic Development, H.E. Sufian Ahmed, upon bidding a warm welcome to the participants, noted "at this significant gathering, we will lay down the platform of commitment for the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals, which principally call for ending hunger and extreme poverty in the next 15 years. In the course of affirming a global commitment to such ambitious and transformative development agenda, the Minister called for urgent action on global priorities.
As the scale of the challenge remains to be unprecedented and delivering on such a task will not be an easy deal, the Minister cautioned his listeners that individuals, countries and the international community have a crucial role to play. In all this, the Minister said, "investing on sustainable and resilient infrastructure is a prerequisite for the Post-2015 development agenda, in which adequate funding is required from public, private, domestic and international sources of financing." Reflecting on the national commitment in such regards, the Minister noted "Ethiopia recognized the imperatives of developing a sustainable infrastructure and building a green economy." Further stressing on the country's commitment, the Minister finally noted that Ethiopia is now working hard in the implementation of afforestation projects and the development of renewable sources of energy. Lord Nicholas Stern Chair of the Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics, on his part, remarked "how appropriate it is to have such a meeting on infrastructure in Addis Ababa given the leadership of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had been able to deliver massive infrastructural development for Ethiopia."
Emphasizing that infrastructure is a means to an end, Lord Stern noted that a concerted focus on ensuring sustainable infrastructural financing raises productivity and boosts long-term growth. To such end, Lord Stern stressed on the critical need for a clearly articulated development strategies for the realization of a sustainable infrastructural financing. Chief Economist and Noble Laureate, Joseph Stieglitz was also one of the key speakers at the event, during which he also cautioned his listeners on the need to do away "short-termism" in the prospect of ensuring the financing of sustainable infrastructure. Taking note of the unbalanced mode risk taking in the value chain, Stieglitz added that "bad partnerships in this regard entail that the public takes the risks, while the private sector takes the profits." Following series of presentations, question and answer sessions on the opportunities, challenges and prospects of the Financing of Sustainable Infrastructure took the stage, where in, consensus has been reached by all stakeholders.
