During the Spring Meetings in mid-April, the World Bank Group committed to addressing the world’s data gaps for infrastructure investments, which will help lower barriers to those investments and help provide services to more people across the globe.
Our team signed an agreement with the recently established Global Infrastructure Hub (GIH) – an initiative of the world’s G20 leading economies – that paves the way for future cooperation.
The GIH came into existence last December, as a result of decisions taken at the November 2014 G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane, Australia. Based in Sydney, the GIH is designed to drive progress on the infrastructure agenda of the G20 and, in particular, to encourage additional private sector involvement with infrastructure development.
It will be a knowledge-sharing network, which will aggregate and disseminate information on infrastructure projects and financing opportunities. The GIH is also designed to assist governments with capacity-building in regard to infrastructure development, by sharing best practice approaches.
The agreement signed by both parties details collaboration on new knowledge products and the mutual support of conferences and learning opportunities, such as the forthcoming Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Days event in London on June 16-17, 2015.
The GIH will work closely with the World Bank Group’s Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF), established for the purpose of assisting governments with establishing the right infrastructure investment environment and preparing potential infrastructure projects for private sector investment. During the Spring Meetings, the Honourable Joe Hockey, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, also announced that Australia will provide A$25 million to assist with the GIF’s initial operations.
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