Updated as of 28 April 2023
Subregional Office for North and Central Asia
Workshop on Leveraging Public and Private
Investment to accelerate the implementation
of the Vienna Programme of Action in North
and Central Asia
1
Hybrid Meeting Format
9 June 2023 | Almaty, Kazakhstan and online
CONCEPT NOTE
Background
Mobilizing investment and financing is a key prerequisite to accelerate the implementation of the
Vienna Programme of Action (VPoA) for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and its six
priority areas.
In North and Central Asia, recent assessments highlighted some progress in
increasing domestic resource mobilization and leveraging innovative
financial instruments in
support of regional connectivity and infrastructure investments, including in LLDCs. Considerable
progress has been achieved in increasing private sector participation and investment in resilient,
efficient, and sustainable infrastructure. However, the impacts from the ongoing multiple crises
have hampered efforts to address LLDCs’ financing needs due to lower Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) inflows, increased external debt and financing costs, constrained fiscal space, and tightened
credit conditions.
While public sector support remains critical to ensure an enabling environment for private and
public sustainable investment, more innovative finance can play a significant
role in securing
additional investment for LLDCs to achieve these objectives. At the same time, immediate action
is needed to support LLDCs to start building a pipeline of bankable projects that both accelerate
the achievement of the VPoA outcomes and can attract investors’ attention. To this end, private
sector participation is key to expanding access to a more diverse range of financing instruments
but also provide much-needed capital towards large-scale, regional investments.
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An Associated event of the Expert Group Meeting on Vienna Programme of Action Subregional Review in North and Central
Asia (7-8 June 2023, Almaty, Kazakhstan and online)
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Within
this context, North and Central Asia countries urgently need stronger partnerships and
enhanced resource mobilization to further advance the implementation of the VPoA. The Roadmap
for Accelerated Implementation of the VpoA (the Roadmap) has identified resource mobilization
and investment facilitation as two important actions to be supported by the UN system and regional
organizations in
partnership with governments, financial institutions,
private sector, and civil
society
2
.
Building on this momentum, the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia
