B20 infra taskforce hones priorities

The Business Twenty (B20) Investment and Infrastructure taskforce has drawn up key recommendations designed to create a more favourable investment climate for large infrastructure projects globally. The meeting was held at Infrastructure Investor’s Berlin Summit 2013 yesterday.

Chaired by Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of the Russia Direct Investment Fund, the taskforce recommended:

*Implementation of major infrastructure projects over the next 20 to 30 years by all Group of 20 (G20) countries;

*The removal of restrictions impacting cross-border investment;

*The adoption by G20 governments of specific mechanisms to attract private investment into infrastructure projects; and

*Development and coordination of specific structures supporting best global practices in public-private partnerships.

Further details will emerge when the final recommendations are presented in June at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum during the B20 Summit. They will then be discussed at the G20 Summit, also in St Petersburg, in September.

The taskforce was created as part of the Russian presidency of the G20 during 2013 and is part of the B20, which includes senior representatives of leading businesses from G20 countries. The G20 accounts for more than 80 percent of gross world product, 80 percent of world trade and two-thirds of world population. It was set up in 1999 to discuss major issues affecting the world economy.

The taskforce meeting was attended by companies including BlackRock, Caisse des Depots, World Bank, Corporacion America, the EBRD, Credit Suisse, GDF Suez, Nestle, the OECD, Repsol and major investment and infrastructure funds.

“Infrastructure investment can boost the global economy if governments back cross-border infrastructure projects,” said Dmitriev. “Supporting infrastructure investments in emerging economies could become a locomotive pulling the global economy back from the brink of the crisis.”