Financing the Future: Mobilizing Public-Private Partnerships for Development Meetings & Events Date: 23 September 2026 Language: English Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/en/asset/k18/k18a1q5l2w Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations. --- UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [0:00]: Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Abdullah Al-Dardari. I am your moderator for today. So everyone will hate me because I'll be very tough on timing. Welcome to this very important event, an event which talks about financing the future, the partnership between public and private actors to invest in development. It's a very important topic. I am the regional director of UNDP in the Arab states, assistant secretary general of the UN. And I have an honor and pleasure to be moderating this session today. Without further ado, I would like to invite his Excellency, Minister Borita, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Cooperation, Moroccan expatriates in the Kingdom of Morocco, to launch this event. Excellency, please go ahead. Morocco · Foreign Minister [0:55]: Thank you. Thank you very much. Excellence, Mesdames et Messieurs, permettez-moi de vous souhaiter la bienvenue à cet événement de haut niveau co-organisé par le Royaume du Maroc et le PLUT. Je tiens... To this event organized by the Kingdom of Morocco, I would like to sincerely thank my colleague from the UNDP, who is the co-chair of this event. I would also like to thank the ministers and dignitaries who have come to this event. The quality of the attendance is a testimony to the importance of multi-partner actors in response to the need for development. The choice, this choice stems from a simple conviction. Public finances remain essential, but they cannot on their own finance development ambitions. As the 2030 agenda nears its deadline, developing countries face a threefold challenge, increasing budgetary constraints, high financing costs, and massive needs in infrastructure, energy, water, health, education, and digital transformation. The annual SDG financing gap is estimated at $4.3 trillion. This illustrates the scale of the challenge at hand. It is no longer simply a matter of mobilizing more resources, but of finding new approaches to finance development. It is in this context that public-private partnerships can play a pivotal role. When well-designed, they bring public resources and private capital together while harnessing the private sector's innovation, technology, and expertise. However, a PPP is not an end in itself. It is only meaningful if it helps better meet the public need, better distribute risks, and produce a sustainable impact and a systemic ripple effect on development. Morocco has made this complementarity between public action and private initiative a cornerstone of its development model. Under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, The kingdom has embarked on a profound transformation of its investment environment with the ambition of gradually increasing the private sector's contribution to nearly two thirds of national investment by 2035. This strategy is based in particular on a framework conducive to investment and PPPs on the new investment charter and on public instruments designed to catalyze private investment. The Moroccan experience shows that investment is not measured solely in terms of capital that is mobilized, but in terms of jobs created, infrastructure built, improved services, and sustainable value created for citizens. This approach is concretely reflected in sectors as diverse as renewable energy, with Noor Ouarzazate Logistics, with the Port of Tangier Med, or the Casablanca-Tangier high-speed rail and rail infrastructure. This experience takes on particular significance when it is put to work for Africa. The annual financing needs for African infrastructure are estimated at between 181 and $221 billion for the period running from 2023 to 2030. The challenge, therefore, is to transform Africa's potential into projects and projects into investments. Ladies and gentlemen, the energy interconnections, the digital infrastructure, are the backbone of this transformation. But the cross-border scope requires tailored financing mechanisms capable of mobilizing resources on a large scale. This is where the role of multilateral development banks and development partners become crucial. Their added value lies not only in the resources they provide, but also in their ability to reduce risks, enhance the bankability of projects, and mobilize long-term private capital. It is a question of playing catalysts, the role of an agent of catalysis, transforming strategic projects into trans attractive investment opportunities. The United Nations Development System also has a vital role to play, thanks to its presence on the ground, its expertise, and its ability to mobilize resources. It is called upon to bring together governments, financial institutions, the private sector, to support the development of bankable projects, and to promote solutions capable of encompassing different countries from different categories, LDCs, small island developing states, middle income countries, etc. But for this to work, there must be a coherent and unified approach which allows, if possible, to overcome barriers to investment and to better exploit cross-border projects. So there are four different initiatives that must be taken. First, reduce regulatory fragmentation and move towards common frameworks for private-public partnerships, defining shared principles that would facilitate the mobilization of private capital. Second, explore the creation of regional co-investment mechanisms involving governments, sovereign wealth funds, multilateral development banks, international development partners, and private investors. Third, It is about developing regional guarantee and risk mitigation platforms, particularly to reduce the perceived risk associated with cross-border integration projects. Fourth, adopt a differentiated approach based on vulnerabilities. Blended finance must be designed not only based on GDP, but also on other criteria, such as landlocked status or climate vulnerability. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, our ambition should be clear to create the conditions for a new generation of partnerships that mobilize finance. The Kingdom's experience shows that public private partnerships can serve as a powerful lever for economic transformation and development. It is this experience that Morocco intends to continue sharing and making available to its partners through South-South or triangular cooperation based on solidarity, co-development, and mutually beneficial partnerships. Thank you for your kind attention. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [8:04]: His Excellency Alexander Ducrow, Administrator, UNDP. Please go ahead. UNDP · Administrator [8:09]: Thank you. Thank you. To begin with, thank you, Your Excellency. It is a pleasure to be here. We -- so such an important subject is really an honor to co-chair. To be here and to discuss One of the key questions of development is how do we finance the future? We've been good at setting goals. Is it climate goals? Is it development goals? All these things are good, but the real discussion is how do you enable it? How do you get it going? And really glad to do this here together with a credible voice on development, which is Morocco that really has been an example of when you combine a clear vision capable institutions, and effective partnership between government and the private sector, incredible things can be done. Being it blended finance at scale and, for example, solar energy, working together with institutions such as the Caisse de Depots et de Gestion, I think that Morocco really has an example that should be shared. Still, That doesn't mean that there aren't huge challenges. And I would say that the mathematics of how to finance development just has changed. It has changed. And Mr. Minister, you made allusion to it on the rising debt levels in the past months definitely have not have not helped. And if things continue this way, at some point we will really be in trouble. Rising cost of capital, shrinking fiscal space. And huge needs, huge needs for investments. On the other side, we all know, we all have seen the evolution in ODA and public financing going down. And that often also masks the fact that in middle-income countries, It's not because you have a middle income country that you don't have vulnerabilities, that you don't have big regional disparities and that you don't have exposure to, for example, the impact of climate change. Still, globally speaking, there is no lack of capital. There is actually quite some capital and quite some capital that is looking for a decent return. But that, of course, does not go by itself. I mean, capital is not flowing based on good intentions. It is flowing based on, and that's the main ingredient, is good governance. You have a stable legal framework, you have well-functioning institutions, you have transparency, you have accountability. That's when it works. And they're really, that is the role that UNDP and other partners play, is to build that bridge between national ambition and the market realities. To bridge that, That is work of reforms. That is work of partnership with national and regional authorities and creating those circumstances in which capital can flow. We sometimes call it institutional scaffolding. It's the institutional work in progress that we do together and that too often remains something that is written on paper. And that, that doesn't, doesn't happen in, in, in, in, in practice. I think what we have also seen over the past year is that the definition of financing development, of course, has broadened. institutional public funding is still important. But besides that, you have the international financial institutions, and you have remittances, and you have foreign direct investment, and you have domestic resources. And the domain of domestic resources is one which I think often is underemphasized. I mean, if you only look at the least developed countries, in more than half of the least developed countries, the state budget is less than 15% of GDP. Now, I'm not saying that it should go to the level of Belgium where it is more than 50%. But if you only use 15% of your GDP, it's hard to finance your own development. And I'm not saying that taxation is going to solve everything, but it's part of the discussion. UNDP has been working on what we call the integrated national financial frameworks in more than 90 countries. So we are a big partner in looking at how you can broaden the financing framework. We have also really synthesized our approach at how to support governments in doing that. We call that our investment accelerator. And the idea of the investment accelerators, okay, what do you need to do? in institutional reforms, in pipeline building, in working together with partners to get those investments flowing. So to finalize, and I apologize in advance, I have to jump out. There is an event on the reconstruction of Gaza where we really want to be present. And I mean, all topics are important, but you understand that we also want to be present there because the evolution in Gaza is really not a good one. is is to our three three questions that I think need to be addressed. First of all, that pipelining of projects, how do you do that at scale? I mean, how do you create a clear method of of preparing projects to be and needs to be to be investable. Second, there is still concessional financing. How do you make that concessional financing sweat? I mean, how do you make it work? How do you make the best use of that public financing? And then third, is, I mean, we are here because we are looking for investable projects. But in the end, what we're looking for is development impact. Those projects need to look, lead to job creation. They need to lead to jobs being changed. We believe in a thriving private sector, but in the end, of course, we're looking for investment that is pushing society forward. Excellencies, I have no doubt that the future will be, will be financed. But it will not happen by itself. We will have to work for it. We will have to engineer it. And we will have to do it together. And I'm convinced that we're capable of doing that. Thank you. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [14:47]: Thank you very much, Mr. de Croy. I understand you need to go to Gaza. Well, I mean, go to the meeting on Gaza. Okay, sir. I'll take your seat, if you don't mind. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues prepared some setting the scene lines here, but I think the scene has been set. And let's delve quickly into what we are going to discuss today. We have three themes. The first one is the enabling conditions that governments and institutions must put in place. The second is instruments and the second was enabling conditions that government institutions need to set in place. The second one is instruments and institutions that have genuinely mobilized additional private finance rather than labeled or relabeled existing finance. And then the third one is how regional markets and South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation can create scale. I'll ask each panelist to be concrete, to share bottlenecks as well as success, and keep to four minutes. And please forgive me if I will be brutal in managing the four minutes. I'm approaching an age where one should not worry much about upsetting very important people, so please bear with me. We'll start with the enabling conditions for investment partnerships in development. We have two distinguished speakers. I will ask first His Excellency Enrique Manalo, the Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations and Chair of the Like-Minded Group of the Middle East, middle income countries. Excellency, the middle income countries host most of the world's poor, yet many lose access to concessional finance before their structural vulnerabilities are overcome. Which regulatory, institutional, or financial reforms would make the greatest difference in enabling middle income countries to mobilize sustainable development finance? The floor is yours, sir. Philippines · Permanent Representative; Chair of LMG MICs [17:13]: Thank you very much, Mr. Moderator. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marita, welcome, excellencies and colleagues. Great pleasure to be with you this afternoon. The 2030 Agenda recognizes that the middle-income countries, or MICS, face specific challenges. In the SG's recent report on development cooperation with middle-income countries, it is noted that structural barriers hamper further economic transformation of the MICS. These barriers emanate from a common reality that as per capita income increases, access to external public finance decreases. Hence, MICs are cut off from concessional finance, especially in terms or in the form of grants. Now, how can we, the MICs, navigate this reality? Under the Philippine chairmanship of the like-minded group for middle income countries, or LMG MICs, we continue to work on elaborating a strategic plan of action for MICs. This initiative has gained momentum with the Secretary General having conducted consultations with member states, UN agencies, and shareholders. In fact, this Friday, the outcome and recommendations of these consultations will be discussed at the 11th ministerial meeting of the LMG Mix. We believe a new framework of cooperation can catalyze global support and mobilize both public and private resources to promote a new development paradigm for Mix. To answer your question, allow me to highlight the following. First, investments must be tailored to specific needs and development priorities of mix. This would create greater impact not only for the mix, but also for the global community. After all, mix are home to more than 70% of the global population, contribute to a third of global GDP, and are setting the pace of progress on the SDGs. Secondly, investment in resilience building should be a priority. With limited fiscal space, mix are confronted with a choice between investing in development and debt servicing. Thirdly, there should be coherence among economic actors and policies from national to regional, international levels. This can be enhanced through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, which aligns programs implemented by UN country teams, including UNDP, with national development priorities. Fourthly, we should leverage South-South and triangular cooperation by bringing together development partners, mobilizing resources, and also including cross-regional engagement. Fifthly, GDP should not work as a constraint for access to financing. A complementary metric of development beyond GDP could make allocation of resources fair and inclusive. The Philippines also actively engages the private sector in policy planning, making and implementation of the country's development priorities. Data shows that infrastructure flagship projects in the Philippines are largely funded through public private partnerships. The Philippines has also recently transitioned into upper middle income status. Policy reforms that have been initiated to promote greater private sector investment include tax reform laws, which provide much needed relief for MSMEs, as well as the amendment of laws to make the economy more open and allow more foreign investors to participate in previously protected sectors such as telecom and shipping. Finally, we have institutionalized and strengthened multi-stakeholder engagement through the Stakeholders Chamber on SDGs. which was launched four years ago, serving as a platform to mobilize the private sector, civil society, academic and other stakeholders in accelerating the country's SDG implementation. Thank you. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [21:04]: Thank you, Excellency. And perfect timing, indeed. Now we go to Mr. Pedro Manuel Moreno. Executive Secretary at interim of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Mr. Moreno, drawing on UNCTAD's investment data and policy analysis, which policies and partnerships have proved most effective in directing investments towards the SDGs? Where do you see the most significant untapped resource, please? UNCTAD · Executive Secretary ad interim [21:40]: Thank you, Mr. Dardari. It's a great pleasure to share with you and to be part of this group. Thank you for your invitation. At its core, financial development means getting capital to move where people need it most, as we mentioned already here. But today, capital moves in the opposite direction. So let me start with where investment is going and give you a couple of figures that I think are relevant for the discussion. Global foreign direct investment reached $1.6 trillion in 2025. That headline sounds encouraging, but look closer. Flows to developed economies rose 43% to developed economies. Flows to developing economies fell. In three quarters of the least developed countries, inflows were stagnant or declining. The concentration is structural. We all know that. Data centers and semiconductors now account for a fifth of all greenfield investment value worldwide, one fifth. This capital flows to a handful of countries with the infrastructure, the talent, and the regulatory certainty to absorb it. Tariffs redirect supply chains. Investor screening regimes restrict access to strategic sectors. For many developing countries, each measure narrows the pipeline further. International project finance, the instruments most directly tied to infrastructure and energy transition, has declined for four consecutive years. Values fell 16% last year alone. Investors are pulling back from the long-term commitments that developing countries need most. Yet there are bright spots worth noting also. Greenfield project announcements in Africa rose 5% last year, reaching 639 new projects. Morocco, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, and Mozambique attracted significant capital. This tell us something important, when projects preparation is solid and governance conditions are credible, investors respond. This brings me to my second last point, what it takes to redirect investments. The Sevilla commitments gave us the roadmap. I see three enabling conditions here. First, the risk in at scale. Everybody talks about the risk in ministers, you know that, no? When it comes to investment in developing countries. Blended finance and warranty instruments work. A well-structured warranty facility can unlock multiples of its own value in private capital. The challenge is that these instruments remain fragmented and small. We need to move from pilot projects to platforms. Second, pipeline readiness. Some investors don't lack appetites, but they lack projects. the gap between national priorities and bankable proposals remain a critical bottleneck. Initiatives like UNDP's Investment Accelerator, Morocco's CDG Group, and UN Trade and Development's investment facilitation work exist precisely to close that gap, and they need to be connected and scaled. Third, market scale through regional cooperation. Individual economies, particularly smaller ones, struggle to attract large investors alone. Cross-border corridors, harmonized standards, and regional co-investment vehicles transform fragmented markets into investable ones. Africa's continental free trade area offers exactly that opportunity. So, Excellencies, the capital exists. The instruments exist. The political commitment, we affirm. in Seville exists. The task ahead is execution, turning frameworks into pipelines and pipelines into projects that reach, at the end of the day, our people. Thank you. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [26:08]: Thank you very much. I mean, your conclusion that there is capital, just to give an example, the Arab region needs $600 billion to achieve the SDGs. It has $4 trillion in commercial bank deposits. So there is no shortage of money in any region in the world. It's just that the instruments that you highlighted will be essential to mobilize them in the right direction. We move now to the second theme of today, which is leveraging private capital and de-risking instruments for green transition and sustainable development. And we have three speakers. If you allow me, I'll do a little switch in the order. I'm going to ask Mr. Remy Rieu, am I spelling it correctly? Okay. President and chair of Finance in Common to speak first instead of second. And then I'm going to ask Mr. Khaled Sfeir with his permission to talk to us. Please, Mr. Rieu. Finance in Common · President and Chair [27:14]: Thank you so much. Before anything else, thank you, Mr. Bourritta, for your invitation. I was, for 10 years, the general director of AFD, the French development agency, so I'm very knowledgeable with what's happening in the Kingdom. I'm thrilled to be here. When I talk about the Kingdom, I have visited all, every single provinces of the Kingdom, and we led beautiful private and public operations by mobilizing public funds. And now I'm going to switch to English. And maybe I could have intervened after hearing my dear friend Khalid and my dear sister Marie-Laure, because I think the three of us, we are representing the new architecture that is building up. and which is an architecture, we're not there yet, but that would be able to deliver at scale and with the efficiency that all the governments and the private sector is expecting for climate and development together. So with the three layers, national, regional, and I'll say a word about finance in common, global, and the three of us also expresses that this work is happening in Africa. And I think that's extremely important to highlight the innovations that are ongoing in Africa, probably because the needs are pressing. And we know that we have to define new framework that would be different and more powerful than the one existing. So I want to commend, of course, again, the work made in Morocco and the specific role of Caisse des Depots et Gestion, CDG. You also have the, so let's say the local, the national financial institution that are the first way to mobilize domestic resources. It's not only taxation, it's also transforming savings into a long-term investment as part of your development process. I also want, but Marie-Laure certainly will explain, highlight what is called in Africa the new African financial architecture for development, which is, let's say, your homework to, again, mobilize savings and organize the system of African financial institution in a renewed and powerful way, and that's the work President Sidi Houda is pushing for. And if you think at the global level, there's 550 CDG in the world, I mean, public development banks in the world. Nobody knows that. It's 23 trillion aggregated balance sheet. It's 2.5 trillion investments a year, meaning between 10% and 15% of total investment, public and private, that are public, that are following the guidance of their governments. And of course, they are banks, financial institutions, so they are issuing bonds. They are providing guarantee. They are mobilizing private capital because this is their mission and their nature. And so that's why we launched back in 2020 at the heart of COVID this initiative called Finance in Common, Finance in Common System, FIX, which is to think at that perimeter because this world was too fragmented. and work on what may be the value added of each kind of institution, maybe the division of labor between us, those closer to the ground originating the number of projects we need, regional platforms aggregating and distributing to market players, and in a global discussion that we are organizing. This is a place where exploring new issues. So I know the kingdom of Morocco is deep into football. So sports for development. There's a coalition of the willing of public banks to invest in sports in stadium and unlock the impact that is attached to NCDG as a crucial role for the next World Cup. Well, I'll be short. We are working on many mechanism, an architecture of guarantee with MIGA. and multilateral partners. And we will convene the next, the sixth Finance and Common Summit in Bangkok, last day of March, 31st of March until the 2nd of April next year. And so I invite all of you, of course, to pay attention. It will be a place where national transformation It's in Bangkok like the IMF and World Bank very soon, but of course it's less about the macro situation, it's more about national experiences, Asian experiences, and to keep also climate and SDG as really part of the work. And I close by saying that it will be at the UN Convention Center in Bangkok, by the way. So a strong UN signal. And I close by saying to the governments that, of course, this group needs a clearer framework now and a clearer set of incentives if you really want us to mobilize private capital like never. It means probably slight changes in the regulation and standards. So ask your supervisors to work on it. And it's also probably, I'm at the UN and I pay due respect to ODA, but ODA dates back the 1960s, never really changed. And so there are these incentives in the ODA framework. We need concessional resources, like the administrator said, but we need an encompassing framework. There's a lot of people working on this, and I hope it will come soon to unlock the full potential of this group of institutions. Thank you. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [33:30]: Thank you very much, Mr. Riou. You highlighted the importance of national funds, and that takes me to Mr. Khaled Safir, the CEO of the Caisse de Depots et de Gestion in Morocco. Please, sir, and I apologize again for the changes in the agenda. Go ahead. CDG · CEO [33:48]: Thank you, moderator. My speech will be in French. Ladies and gentlemen, excellencies, before anything else, thank you for the organizers of this meeting and thank you for the Minister Barita. and the UNDP for inviting me to this meeting and having the honor to bring to your knowledge a concrete national experience, especially when development financing is shifting from external aid towards domestic mobilization. It's not a theory because this has been working since 1959. So the CTG is a public entity that's been voted by a law, goes back to 1959, and the bylaws makes it legitimate. The resources come from different funds, so pension funds, personal funding, personal savings, and that gives us, that gives us an independence from market volatility, and this is why we can turn it into capital. So the first asset is the globalization of our funds, which enables us to reevaluate our funds on an annual basis. The second asset is the diversity of horizons of our funding. because we work on the short term, middle term, and also long term to 30 and 30 years. When we reach maturity, we can bring a continuum and financing on long term financing. And the third asset is the size, the significance of our bottom line, which enables us to develop a certain amount of expertise in engineering, different financial structures, PPP, tourism, investments. So we do have 2,500 talents that specialize in that expertise. So we are not just financing, they know how to operate specific projects. And this is what makes us different. So we work with different cycles of contracts. We know and we can invest at a very specific time when different actors withdraw their assets during crisis. And we also evolve in a very strong and solid national environment. We, uh, we take advanta- we leverage the stability and that's one of the key eleme- elements of our investments and Morocco presents today solid micro economic, uh, standards, uh, we, uh, our agency rating is, uh, w-… a rare, which has been classified as investment grade. We promote different strategies carried by Mohammed VI. These strategies last longer than political cycles and are being deployed as sectorial policy to protect social programs, to develop and deploy new projects such as water savings and also the organization of the World Cup. Qui est géré avec rigueur, un cadre juridique qui s'est enrichi par une loi sur les partenariats public-privé, la réforme de la bourse et un certain nombre de véhicules financiers. Et la CDG évolue donc dans un écosystème d'organismes stratégiques, tel que le Fonds souverain Mohammed VI de l'investissement. Par ailleurs, la CDG intervient dans 3 modèles. Elle peut être financeur, investisseur ou opérateur. et agissent très souvent sous forme de mandats publics et sa valeur ajoutée est ceci en amont des projets, là où les coûts d'études sont lourds, où les risques sont encore élevés et où le modèle économique n'est pas totalement démontré. Nous structurons le projet, nous portons ces premières phases, nous apportons notre expertise et nous réduisons progressivement le risque jusqu'au point où il devient finançable par le marché. Notre principe est celui de l'entraînement du secteur privé, car notre véritable critère de décision n'est pas le rendement seul, mais l'additionnalité. En matière de développement durable, la Caisse des Dépôts a intégré les métriques ESG au cœur de tous ces processus d'investissement et de décision. Et notre démarche environnementale aujourd'hui ne se limite pas à des opérations financières isolées. C'est une politique d'ensemble qui irrigue l'ensemble de nos métiers et s'impose à tous nos projets. Autrement dit, la contrainte environnementale n'est pas à ajouter après coup du montage financier, Elle fait partie du cahier de charges dès la conception des projets. Sur un autre registre, je dirais que le modèle marocain n'est pas nécessairement reproductible partout, mais il peut servir comme modèle à examiner, à étudier. Et ce qui est partageable, ce sont les succès, les échecs. Et d'ailleurs, pour cela, que nous participons au Forum des caisses de dépôts. qui réunit à la fois les caisses européennes, françaises et italiennes, et une dizaine de caisses de dépôts africaines, et qui est un espace de partage, de formation et de comparaison. Nous faisons aussi partie de Finance in Common, dont vient de parler mon ami Rémy Riou, et de la coalition des clubs d'investisseurs de long terme. et nous avons adhéré avec le Forum des caisses à la nouvelle architecture financière développée par la Banque africaine de développement. En conclusion, je dirais que notre mission en tant que Caisse de dépôt n'est pas seulement de financer seuls les grands projets, mais de transformer cette épargne en capacité d'investissement, d'intervenir là où notre capital et notre expertise font réellement la différence, puis de créer les conditions pour que davantage de capitaux privés puissent venir, co-investissent et se déploient à plus grande échelle. Merci. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [40:35]: Thank you very much. I mean, of course, Morocco's chairmanship and organization of this event exigent some extra time, but that doesn't apply to everybody. So I need to specify that. And again, I am very sorry, Ms. Marie-Laure Akin Olugbadie. Okay. Am I doing okay? Almost. I'm so sorry, because people botch my name all the time. So, I mean, the Senior Vice President of the African Development Bank. The floor is yours, ma'am. AfDB · Senior Vice President [41:10]: Excellencies and ministers, thank you very much for this invitation to the African Development Bank. I don't think -- I think this was inevitable, given the excellent relations between the African Development Bank and Morocco. Morocco is a longstanding partner. And truly, Morocco has provided us with a president, Marc Abadj, who was there from 1995 to 2005. And indeed, we have been, we have worked with Morocco in the projects of these, the Solar Energy Center of Nouadad, the Port of Tangier, the Airport Renovation Project, and what a pleasant pleasure to land in Casablanca. That is a project that the Bank has also assisted. This afternoon. And I think we've heard both from Remy and the president of the CDG about the NAFAD. And what is NAFAD? NAFAD is what we call the New African Financial Architecture for Development. What is the premise of NAFAD? It is that probably the most underrated and appreciated asset that the continent has is the African capital. Africa is not poor. Let's repeat it. Not only because of what we have beneath our legs in the soil, but also because, and you've said it, there are significant resources that are mobilized on the continent. Our estimate is that the continent, African financial institution, capital market, pension fund, insurance company, have about $4 trillion. So you can imagine that if only 1% of these $4 trillion, which is $400 billion, could be rechanneled appropriately towards productive investment, you can imagine what multiplier effect and what impact this could unleash. And this is what NAFAD is about. We have everything that we need on the continent. We have de-risking institution. We have institution that prepare project. We have financing institution. But what we observe also, and you've said it indeed, everything is fragmented. Everything still operates like a pilot. We are tired of pilots in Africa. We want to scale up, we want to organize, we want to have an ecosystem that works as an ecosystem where those who must prepare projects and make them bankable, the likes of Africa 50 based in Casablanca, Those who are supposed to provide the de-risking and the structuring, like for example, ATE is one such institution that has a formidable guaranteeing facility and that we at the African Development Bank consider that it could be the anchor for a Pan-African guarantee platform that we all would like to see. With a capitalization of $2 billion, ATE can do $20 billion worth guarantees every year. This is about half of the gap that the continent has at the moment. We have the institution, we have the capital market. We need to develop them. We need to link them to one another so that when Dangote does a public listing, an IPO in Nigeria, anybody on the continent should feel that they can become rich from oil on our soil. But do these stock exchange communicate as they should? I challenge many of us here who have tried to buy some stocks from Dangote on the Nigerian stock exchange to have been successful. This must change. Capital must be able to flow all over the continent. Pension funds need to be able to invest in the various markets. And this is what the NAFAD is all about, is to really create this ecosystem where we are going to bring together everybody, and thank you very much for your participation. We have a declaration of Abidjan, everybody, the whole African financial met in Abidjan in April this year, and we agreed on how we are going to deploy this platform so that we can really capture this African capital. And as I said, we are going to scale up what works well. We are not going to create new institution, but we need to choose. We need to operate on the principle of subsidiarity, the one that is closest and best place to bring the support to the entity will do so. If it is lacking in a few areas, we are going to capacitate that. And we are going to operate on the principle of complementarity, meaning that we have huge projects, all of our the corridors, et cetera. So not a single institution can do it. So we need to all come together. And yes, at the end of the day, we were bold enough, AU was bold enough to create the AfCFTA, which is the system through which goods are going to move, we are going to trade. We need to be bold enough to create NAFAD, which will be the engine, the fuel that will really finance, AFCFTA. Thank you very much. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [46:56]: These were very worthy extra minutes, man. So thank you very much. And what's happening in Africa today is fascinating. You know, until recently, the numbers show that investments of Africans in Africa is multiple times than all ODA and foreign aid coming to Africa. However, until recently, the political economy of Africa was still revolving around aid. And I can see Africa freeing itself from that post-colonial system and taking its own future into its own hands. We should all learn from that fantastic experience. Thank you very much. We move to our third subject which is harnessing regional economic cooperation and South South and triangular cooperation to scale investments and partnerships in development. We have one speaker, right? One speaker in this event and one speaker is sufficient to have a whole session by yourself, dear. Dear Dima. What did you think I was going to say? How dare I? No, but no. What? Dima Al Khatib Dima Al-Khatib is the director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation and triangular cooperation, I must say. And we grew up in the system together. And it's a great honor for me to invite you to speak. UNOSSC · Director [48:21]: Thank you, Abdel. Let me first congratulate her for such a moving statement. Thank you for that. Excellency Minister Burita, Excellencies and distinguished colleagues. It's such a pleasure to join UNDP, but of course, Morocco, whose leadership of the High Level Committee on South-South Cooperation provides an important platform for advancing this agenda that we are discussing today. Let me start by saying that our framework for the four years to come as an office for South-South cooperation has essential or treats, if you will, South-South and triangular cooperation as essential pillars for offering new approach to development cooperation. It emphasizes country ownership, strong national capacities, and long-term resilience and self-reliance. Through its policy and system-wide coordination roles, we do help translate intergovernmental guidance into coherent UN system support while connecting knowledge, technology, and resources with nationally identified priorities and scaling southern solutions. Today, we see South-South cooperation increasingly encompassing trade, investment, infrastructure, technology, productive capacities, and development finance. And the scale of this growing trend is quite significant. The South-South FDI investment flows have doubled over the past decade. So we are no longer speaking only about developing countries exchanging expertise, We are speaking about developing countries investing in one another's productive capacity. So which model demonstrates better this at scale? And to my mind, the most compelling is not a single project or instrument, as we just said. It's an integrated national approach that combines public policy, national institutions, companies, finance, and technical expertise into one coherent strategy for cross-border cooperation. Morocco, our host today, is a leading example. It's the second largest African investor on the continent, with more than 40% of its FDI flows directly to sub-Saharan Africa and Moroccan companies and financial institutions, including the Caisse de Depots de Gestion, represented on this panel, have established a significant presence across the continent. Agriculture also provides a concrete example. For example, through this OCP Africa, Morocco has combined investment with technical cooperation, including soil mapping, locally adapted fertilizers, farmer training, and partnerships with national institutions. It is active in more than 40 African countries, reaching more than 4.2 million smallholder farmers. And this demonstrates how South-South investment can combine capital, knowledge, technology, and local entrepreneurship. These examples also point to an important question. How can South-South partnership be expanded and brought to a greater scale? One avenue is also triangle cooperation. It can help to create enabling conditions for South-South initiatives to be adapted and expanded. For example, the partnerships between OCP Africa and the International Finance Corporation, IFC, provides an illustration. whereby IFC provided 100 million to help OCP Africa expand agricultural value change across seven countries. So that's also quite impressive. Let me also note, because for the sake of time, because we've been also talking about moving from projects to platforms. We have the pleasure to also note that two weeks ago, we launched the Global Alliance on South-South and Triangular Cooperation, a multi-stakeholder platform designed to connect country-identified needs with Southern solutions, expertise, partnerships, and financing opportunities. It brings governments together with United Nations entities, development banks, and international financial institutions regional organizations, academia and the private sector to facilitate the adaptation and the scaling up of successful Southern led solutions. We're pleased that Morocco was one of the first members through the digital for sustainable development. We had the pleasure to have the minister and now the platform is active. So we do invite all the countries to be part of it to help us move forward with a platform that connects the dots and Alongside, of course, through our different funds that we manage that are entrusted to us by southern countries, we had to pilot, you don't like pilots, but we pilot to demonstrate and bring to scale. The idea is to really bring to scale and to make the best use of the resources. We stand ready to collaborate with everyone. Thank you, Abdullah. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [53:20]: Without further ado, I hand over now to His Excellency Foreign Minister Bourita to moderate the ministerial discussion session of this event. Morocco · Foreign Minister [53:32]: Thank you, moderator. I think we have a long list of speakers, so I will ask everyone to limit the intervention to less than two minutes because we have only 30 minutes. So I will ask my brother and colleague, Foreign Minister of Cabo Verde, to take the floor. Cabo Verde · Foreign Minister [54:11]: So please allow me to thank the Kingdom of Morocco for having organized this exchange on this subject, the subject of partnerships and the relationship between public-private actors to mobilize resources to carry out sustainable development. Today, developing countries are facing a lack of growth in investment, which is limiting their ability to invest in sustainable growth and in development. This challenge is particularly worsened in Africa and among small island developing states. which have all kinds of structural challenges and limited fiscal capacity, growing climate change impact, and an unaffordable financing. This is the reality of Cape Verde, despite all the progress that is made in democratic governments and economic change. We continue to face all kinds of structural constraints because we are isolated, because we are spread out among many islands, and because of the changing environment and climate. That's why we think that the criteria for financing development must go beyond the consideration of the GDP, but look at international financing framework. So we applaud the growing recognition of the need to integrate the factors of vulnerability in decision making concerning development financing. In this regard, Cabo Verde would like to applaud the result of the fourth conference on development financing, the launching of the Seville platform, and the participation of Antigua and Barbados. Cabo Verde wants to use this to create a resilient economy that is inclusive and sustainable. Public financing will not be sufficient. We need more robust partnerships from governments, international organizations, and the private sector. The private sector is indispensable, not only as a source of capital, but as a motor of innovation and of technological transfer and job creation. We would also like to make better use of the huge potential of our community abroad. So this investment will represent a powerful resource for sustainable development. Cape Verde government is committed to continue to create an enabling environment for investments with PPPs, thanks to reforms, regulatory reforms, and reform of the private sector by promoting new financing solutions and new opportunities for investment. We aim are building a more resilient, prosperous future without leaving anyone behind. Thank you very much. Morocco · Foreign Minister [58:01]: Thank you very much. Malawi [58:10]: Your Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Kingdom of Morocco through my brother, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the UNDP for convening this timely discussion on how partnership between public and private sector actors can mobilize investment for development. For Malawi as a least developed country and a long landlocked developing country, the central challenge is not a shortage of development priorities or potential investment opportunities. It is how we translate those priorities into bankable projects that can attract affordable, long-term capital while safeguarding the public interest. The concept note rightly recognizes that countries do not start from the same position. As such, they require differentiated financing and the risk king solutions. Your Excellencies, allow me to highlight three priorities. First, we must strengthen the enabling environment and project preparation. Governments need stronger institutional and technical capacity to identify, prepare, and structure credible investment pipelines. This means turning opportunities in agriculture and agro-processing, renewable energy, transport infrastructure, digital connectivity, and climate resilience into investment-ready projects aligned with our national development priorities. Second, private capital must be mobilized through financing structures that reflect the realities of vulnerable economies. In this respect, Commercial finance may not deliver investment at the required scale. We need concessional finance, guarantees, blended finance, and first loss facilities to ensure sustainable development. Third, international cooperation must have must move beyond financing individual projects towards building national capacity and sustainable investment ecosystem. We encourage UNDP and international financial institution to work with governments from project conception to implementation. Regional, South-South and triangular cooperation can further help countries share expertise, harmonize approaches and mobilize investment on a greater scale. In conclusion, your Excellencies, Malawi stands ready to work with other governments, UNDP, African Development Bank, financial institution, and the private sector to transform development priorities into investable opportunities and tangible results for our people. Thank you very much for your attention. Morocco · Foreign Minister [1:01:56]: Thank you. Thank you very much, my brother. I give now the floor to the Foreign Minister of Gambia. Gambia · Foreign Minister [1:02:06]: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, my dear brother, Minister Boritah. Let me, on behalf of my delegation, thank you very much for convening this high-level gathering. on this very important subject. Excellencies, the rising interconnected shocks requires a shift from crisis response to a long-term resilience and building of a model and a system fit for the challenges of the 21st century. Vulnerable countries like ours must have equitable access to funding, the necessary finance and capacity to withstand all these future shocks. and to contain the risk and the opportunities. The Gambia therefore commends the Kingdom of Morocco for its leadership in a fundamental reading of the global development and financial architecture. Excellencies, for the Gambia, this represents an obligation to act in our efforts to bring forward the ambition to deepen engagement between the banking institutions, the private sector, and to urge global leaders to reform international financial systems. The question is no longer whether we must adapt to rising shocks like climate change, debt vulnerabilities, and fragmentations, but how urgently and how boldly we prepare to act and change the course. The theme of this gathering speaks directly to that urgency. Excellency, we are hopeful that UNDP is also ready to support all nations to translate this commitment into international actions so that we can fix and revive the engine of development, build ladders of opportunity and growth, and lift up the rug of prosperity and accelerate investment across the world. As The Gambia strengthens its forward-looking approaches and enhances capacity to anticipate future shocks, We call on the financial institutions and the private sector to scale investment aligned with national plans and the 2030 agenda, including through regional corporations and South-South and triangular corporations. Excellencies, let us seize this moment to deepen reforms, strengthen corporations, and build resilient economies that serve our people by committing to financing our development from within and shaping our futures on our own terms. I thank you. Morocco · Foreign Minister [1:04:40]: Thank you. Thank you, Your Excellency. And I give the floor now to His Excellency, my brother Soulaymane Diarra Souba, Minister of Planning and Development of Ivory Coast. Côte d’Ivoire · Minister [1:04:56]: Thank you, Excellency. Thank you, Mr. Minister of Morocco. Before anything else, thank you to the Kingdom of Morocco for this beautiful initiative. and indicate that the key question is about how do we use this flow to development projects. The challenge is not to find new sources of financing, but to create enabling conditions to unblock investment opportunities. That's why the PPP makes sense here. A national priority does not become an investment project. It needs to be prepared, structured, and be part of an enabling environment so we can bring the commitment and the interest of partners. Under Ouissane Ouattara, president of Cote d'Ivoire, he made this approach a major part of his plan for 2026-2030. He plans $209 billion over the next five next years, including 57% coming from the private sector. This participation creates-- has a goal to create 800 projects over the next five years, with projects including a very fast train of over 600 kilometers. and different type of train, but also highways, over 600 kilometers of highway. So responsibility is to bring, is to move from finance to concrete and to concrete projects through an evaluation of risk. We want a partner PPPs through our that will work with the different authorities that will manage all the projects. So investors will not only look at the viability of the projects, but also its operations. They want to guarantee mixed projects. They will evaluate the risks. Cote d'Ivoire has recently received an important signal and the trust of technical partners Last June, the consulting group dedicated to the PND, our partner committed for four times the amount, so 80 billion dollars for the next five years. And now I want to thank the Kingdom of Morocco who was present with over hundred Moroccan companies that came to support us. And to conclude, I just want to say that the success of the PPP is not about the amount of mobilized resources. It is measured on the sustainability of the results on our population. So we want to translate this project into an investment and investment into shared progress. Thank you so much, Mr. Minister. Morocco · Foreign Minister [1:08:38]: Now I'm going to give the floor to Minister, my dear brother, the Foreign Minister of Niger. Mr. Bakary, you have the floor. Niger · Foreign Minister [1:08:51]: Thank you, Excellency. Dear brothers, before anything else, thank you and the UNDP for organizing this very important event. From our experience in our country, it is based on three things. The poorer you are, the harder it is to find funds, even on an individual scale. So, and it works as well for the international scale. So that's the tough reality that we're dealing with. The second point, So, same as for countries, capitals of funds do not have friends, they have interests. Nobody wants to invest where there are no guarantees, where the environment is unsafe, and where they don't think that it's going to bring something. And third point, you can't find any financing that it will be beneficial for your economy if you still are under the colony's yoke. Up to now, we could not have any partners, we could not choose our partners. Today, on the 15 critical minerals, we have nine of them. But when people quote them, we are the last on the list because there are contracts that are being imposed on us. But thankfully, since 2023, they were denounced. We are happy to say today that we have full sovereignty on our resources. We deal with whomever we want in a fair and equitable fashion. So to end, because time is precious, we will want to organize a whole week of investment in Niger, a different week, a different week from what we know. During this week, we will have all the latitude to make deals with the partners of our choosing in the interest of both parties. And as a conclusion, I would like to simply say that Africa and Sahel in particular is a land of prosperity. It's what the colonialists understood, they imposed, a financial terrorism because everybody knows that nobody's going to go and invest where there's no security and safety. And to discourage us, they want to really evaluate the wealth of our land. And I said this before, we are strongly determined to make sure that our country is free once and for all from the yoke of the colonial power. Thank you so much, my dear brother. Morocco · Foreign Minister [1:12:37]: I'm now going to give the floor to Khalid Shaikh Al-Aliti, Minister of the Emirates. United Arab Emirates · Minister [1:12:49]: Excellencies, colleagues, I thank the Kingdom of Morocco and UNDP for convening this high-level side event. The United Arab Emirates uses public-private partnerships as a core strategy to attract investment, deliver infrastructure and services, and to drive sustainable economic growth. Our experience demonstrates that partnerships are most effective when public resources, private capital, technical expertise, and appropriate risk-sharing mechanisms are brought together around clear development priorities. In this sense, the UAE passed a law number 12 of 2023, provides an important framework for encouraging private sector participation in strategic projects, enabling more efficient project delivery. Through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the UAE supports the structuring, financing, and oversight of development partnerships across sectors, including infrastructure, energy, and water. In Africa, the United Arab Emirates Africa Green Investment Initiative offers another example of this approach. We also value our partnership with the UNDP in advancing innovative approaches to development and cooperation. Our collaboration has included efforts to promote trilateral partnerships with African countries, as well as work to advance sustainable finance and private sector engagement in support of SDGs. Ultimately, closing the development financing gap requires more from individual projects towards stronger pipelines, enabling environments and partnerships that can mobilize capital at scale and translate it into sustainable development outcomes. The United Arab Emirates stand ready to continue to support meaningful work towards this direction in close collaboration with its partners. Thank you, Your Excellency. Moderator [1:15:23]: Thank you very much, Excellency. Apologies from Minister Borrita that had to leave because of an emergency. I have the pleasure to invite Rania Mashad, Executive Secretary. ESCWA · Executive Secretary [1:15:44]: UNDP and Kingdom of Morocco. for convening this important topic and event and the great list of speakers. It's very difficult to come at the end, but let me maybe shed light on a few points. First, country ownership is extremely important. So for us to be able to mobilize financing to push development, it's very important that countries within their development frameworks, know exactly what is it that they want to achieve, which SDG is put as a priority, and also identify different sources of finance. And here the INFF that the UNDP has spearheaded with several countries is a very important exercise where it gives identification for priorities, country priorities. Then comes the next element, which was also reflected. How can we leverage on the different sources of finance to be able to meet what is a very big financing gap? Our estimates, I know Abdullah gave close to a billion for the region, close to a trillion for the region. It's exactly what we have, close to a trillion dollars gap for the region. But regardless of the number, What is extremely useful is that, and this is something that ESCWA does with member states and also on a regional level, how can you make sure that the regulatory frameworks are ones which are conducive to the different sources of finance? We come in a region where remittances plays an extremely important role. We come in a region where the private sector is encouraged to come in for growth and jobs, but clear regulations are needed, better ways to exit markets are needed, more predictability with respect to macro policy is needed. So there is an element related to regulations, which I think more than one speaker identified as important. Maybe three things to mention. Commitment from governments is extremely important, and that's why it's very important to emphasize country ownership, because if all the goodwill of financiers are there to bring money to the table, unless the country knows exactly what it wants to do and how much it costs, it would be very difficult to move forward. The second point is clarity with respect to projects. And we saw through different institutions and something that us as ESCWA and other agencies is to help countries have more clarity with respect to the projects that they want to finance. And Nima mentioned also a programmatic approach, not project by project. And then third is creating that credibility where countries in working with more than one institution over time creates credibility so there's always a pipeline of different sources of finance. I will just conclude by one of the tools that ESCWA has developed most recently, and it's a digital financing ecosystem to provide an integrated financing solution. It was piloted in Jordan, Oman, Egypt, and Tunisia. It's also endorsed by the Seville Platform for Action, and the tools include optimizing more efficiently the different sources of financing that are there. There's a long list of other things to say, but let me conclude by that. And once again, the discussion on financing will never end. We live in an age of conflict, crisis and climate challenges, and the cost of financing is growing, the debt is growing. But nonetheless, it is on all of us to help countries put forward the regulations that are needed to be conducive to attracting the financing that is needed as administrator of UNDP mentioned so that it reaches the people that need it the most. Thank you very much. Moderator [1:19:38]: Thank you very much, Excellency. And now I will pass the mic to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives. Maldives · Minister of Foreign Affairs [1:20:00]: Chères Excellences, seulement plusieurs sources de financement peuvent être remplacées, comme les différents États, dépendent des, sont centrés sur différents instruments. Nous comprenons l'hésitation d'investissement dans des petites économies, tout comme nous comprenons également l'importance des partenariats public-privé pour les petites économies. Il y a énormément de potentiel pour le développement des infrastructures et la construction de systèmes qui peuvent résister à la pression financière de nos temps. Aux Maldives, nous avons déjà vu the results of these partnerships, which have given rise to a lot of positive points, and especially the insurance on the corals. So these projects have been translated from a concept to reality. For this reason, we can turn to these investments Et pour montrer que ces ressources nous permettent de passer à échelle, ces ressources et cette opportunité pour le soutien des partenariats public-privé a un impact énorme sur les aux Maldives, mais aussi dans les petits États insulaires. Et c'est une opportunité pour tous. Nous comprenons la nature de tous ces défis et nous avons des cadres de travail pour les dépasser. Nous comprenons par le biais de cette conversation. Par exemple, le mois dernier, nous avons participé à un forum en Malaisie pour créer des partenariats resserrés et lorsque nous nous rassemblons comme par exemple lors de ce forum, nous traduisons ces ces euh ces concepts en réalité, les finances de nos îles sont en train sont en pleine croissance, c'est c'est sont notre facteur de croissance, ça nous permet de et je vous remercie de votre attention. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [1:22:32]: Merci beaucoup, Excellence. Nous avons maintenant donné la parole à Andrea Shadger at OCD. Speaker 35 [1:22:46]: Merci beaucoup au Maroc qui a été un excellent partenaire. vous avez partagé, nous allons continuer de faire partie de l'économie et du développement social du Maroc. Donc, sans plus tarder, je voudrais aborder trois points. Il est clair que le développement international de l'aide ne fonctionne pas. Il a toujours été clair que ces investissements, si, vont fonctionner. donc il faut nous concentrer sur ce sujet pour soutenir le continent africain, pour attirer plus d'investissements. Nous avons lancé une plateforme d'investissement pour plus de transparence et attirer plus d'investisseurs. Deuxième point, C'est un point qui a été évoqué à plusieurs reprises aujourd'hui. Si vous comparez l'Asie du Sud-Est et l'Afrique, vous voyez énormément de similitudes et vous voyez aussi que cette croissance vient de cette interconnectivité. Je suis ravie de voir que le Maroc est à la tête de ce projet pour connecter ces différents pays sur le continent. Donc connectivité est un point euh très important pour les investissements et dernier point. je voulais utiliser les les euh comme l'a dit euh comme l'a dit le ministre des des du Niger, les les minerais critiques sont très importants et c'est un point donc il est très important de de de développer, diversifier votre chaîne de valeur. Donc, ce sont les trois points, donc investir de façon différente. Je vous remercie. Speaker 36 [1:24:59]: Thank you very much, Excellency. Now I'm going to give the floor to my dear friend, Excellence Ambassador and director of the lateral foreign affair of Djibouti. Djibouti · Ambassador [1:25:25]: Thank you so much, dear friend, ladies and gentlemen, minister, representative of the PNUD, of the UNDP. Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you very much for the Morocco, and thank you for this meeting, which interviews at when financing for development needs to move from commitment to action. For Djibouti and for many other countries, it's important to move from -- it's important to create jobs. The mobilization of private capital is key. So the civil engagement offers a very clear roadmap, reinforce, strengthen banks, offer and promote mixed portfolios. Our collective responsibility means translating this principle into tangible results on the spot. It's still a challenge for Africa and other countries. The perception of risk and debt reimbursement requires a new financial architecture that will reduce cost and share the risk. To do so, let's remember that the ambition of the UNDP It was not supposed to be a manager of projects, but the engine for new projects, such as the Marshall Plan for South countries. Therefore, the UN needs to delve into the deep So we need to work with other stakeholders because our priorities are clear, the infrastructures, the energy, digital connectivity, logistics, human capital, and regional integrations. As a conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, the financial of development must not be, uh, by short-term investment, but durable and sustainable value. Let's move from perceived risk to shared risk, from promises to projects, and from projects to results, so that no one is left behind. I thank you very much for your attention. Thank you. Speaker 38 [1:28:01]: Thank you very much, dear friend. You were the last one on my list. We have reached the conclusion of this meeting. I'm going to give the floor to the moderator. I have a few remarks to conclude this event. UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [1:28:21]: Yes, yes. Moderator [1:28:22]: You want to conclude? UNDP · Moderator; Regional Director for Arab States; ASG [1:28:24]: No, no. I conclude. You conclude at the end. All right. Go ahead. The senior co-chair of this event. Co-Chair [1:28:31]: Thank you very much, Excellencies. Okay, well, thank you for leading a rich debate. Allow me three takeaways. First, capital moves where rules are predictable and information is reliable. Second, public money is most powerful when it carries risk that private investors cannot carry through institutions and platforms rather than one deal at a time. Third, scale will come from regional markets and South-South cooperation, where South is investing in the South. Morocco's cooperation across Africa shows what is possible. UNDP's commitment is to stay the partner on the ground that connects these pieces, governments, development banks, private investments and investors, and the UN system. With the Kingdom of Morocco, we will continue to accelerate efforts in that direction and continue to nurture our solid partnership. Thank you very much, Excellency. Thank you, Excellency. Moderator [1:29:45]: So we've reached the end of our event. Thank you for this very rich exchange. Thank you to all participants, ministers, panelists, and representatives of the United States, FINES, and private public sector. I would like to bring about five messages. First off, we must go beyond the traditional public and private partnerships. And it's not about mobilize financing, but create projects that will attract those financials. We can't create anything that's one size fill all. All countries are not identical. Fourth point, Africa need to be able to scale up. As Oktad said it, transforming projects exist, the capital, the funds exist, but our responsibility is to better connect all those three realities. And the South-South cooperation is key here and can play an important role, a key role for partnerships. Fifth point, our meeting is a call to move from dialogue to action to reach compromise. So the challenge is to create new generations of partnerships based on trust, shared risk, national appropriation and measurable impact on the environment. This is how we want to continue our partnership with the UNPD and the different players that are present today. That will be the only way to get to concrete investment. I want to thank the UNPD. Thank you for the Bureau. the representative and her aide. Thank you for your support for everything that you do in Morocco. Thank you to the team of the mission, Maryam, Malid, Nashwa, and the whole team of the mission. We have reached the end of this meeting. Thank you very much for your participation. Inshallah, we'll see you in our next meeting.