About 30 high-level government officials are attending a workshop on public private partnership capacity building being conducted by the Ministry of Finance in conjunction with British Expertise International and the British High Commission in Namibia.
“Fundamentally this is about the President’s [Hage Geingob] anti-poverty agenda. The only long-term way to fight poverty and inequality is through economic growth and the creation of jobs. That requires investment. The government is quite clear there are not endless funds for infrastructure development and that much of it must come from the private sector. So that’s where public private partnerships come in. They are not the only answer but must surely be one of the answers,” said the British High Commissioner to Namibia Jo Lomas at the opening of the workshop.
The workshop is expected to provide executive level education suitable for both public and private sectors, with a comprehensive overview of the private public partnership process. The programme is focused on understanding the principles that govern public private partnerships, looking at project financing, structures, insurance and risk management, including mapping the legal framework that governs the process, policy development, and stakeholder mapping.
The training is being facilitated by John Davie, who is the chairman of Altra Capital Limited, a course leader for the advanced diploma in public private partnerships, a member of the UK Financial Services Sector Advisory Board, a member of the UN ECE Panel of PPP Experts, and who has served six years as Chairman of the UK Government’s PPP Export Advisory Board. In the photo are (from left) Director of PPP Unit in the Ministry of Finance Saurabh Suneja, workshop facilitator John Davie, and the British High Commissioner to Namibia Jo Lomas.