A stakeholder consultation meeting on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was held on 5 th June at the conference room of Bangladesh Bank. The consultation session was organized by the Investment Promotion and Financing Facility (IPFF) Unit of Bangladesh Bank (BB) and was chaired by Mr. Md. Abul Quasem, Deputy Governor, Bangladesh Bank. Mr. Syed Afsor H. Uddin, CEO, PPP Office under the Prime Minister's office and Dr. M. Fouzul Kabir Khan, Team Leader, ADB Technical Assistance Team, discussed the government's PPP Initiative and the preparatory work completed under the ADB TA programme. The objective of the consultation meeting was to create awareness among potential PPP project lenders regarding the progress of the country's PPP initiatives and discuss the lenders' role in PPP along with the opportunities and challenges. Representatives from 14 banks and Financial Institutions and personnel from the IPFF Unit, BB participated in the consultation session.

The consultation session commenced with a welcome speech by Deputy Governor Mr. Quasem. He informed the participants the current status of the IPFF project and the interest of both Bangladesh Bank and the World Bank (WB) to promote and support the PPP projects through the IPFF program. He mentioned that IPFF is also considering supporting social sector projects in education and health sectors. The CEO of the PPP office emphasized the need for preparatory work for PPP and narrated his personal experience of working on the PPP programs in the U.K., where he saw remarkable success in the implementation of a multibillion dollar PPP Programme . He also explained how the PPP program has created opportunities for the private sector as well as the lenders. He also discussed the government's progress in preparing for the first wave of pilot PPP projects. Dr. Fouzul Khan explained on the basic concepts of PPP and how the government envisages the country's PPP programs to move forward. He briefed everyone about the preparatory activities needed and undertaken so far, including the setting up and operationalization of the PPP Office, drafting of PPP Law, preparation of Screening, Project Development and Bid Processing manuals, issuance of various Fiscal Support guidelines etc. The , CEO, PPP Office concluded the presentation by mentioning the key role of the lenders in executing PPP projects and encouraged early and regular dialogue so that potential financing issues could explored in advance to enable the successful completion of PPP projects.

The Bangladesh Bank and the PPP Office had a very engaging and fruitful discussion with the banks and the financial institutions where a number of ideas where shared on how the enabling framework for executing PPP transactions could be further developed.

The Bangladesh Bank and the PPP Office thanked the representatives for their participations and their suggestions and emphasized the importance of working together with the private sector and other public sector authorities to take forward these suggestions to support the development of a vibrant PPP programme.

The consultation session was concluded on an optimistic note with the remarks by CEO, PPP Office and the Deputy Governor, Bangladesh Bank, that the government is keen to work together with the private sector to ensure accelerated investments in the country through successful implementation of the PPP programme.