At the behest of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Ktrue coordinated the translation of its book "Infrastructure Financing for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific" into Chinese, now published by China Yanshi Publishing House.
Infrastructure development stands as a crucial pillar on the journey toward achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Asia-Pacific region. Central to the regional development agenda should be the pursuit of sustainable infrastructure. However, financing infrastructure projects in the region presents numerous challenges and risks, including large project sizes, high complexity, and sometimes cross-border implementation, leading to hesitations and bottlenecks in project development. These obstacles jeopardize the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Asia-Pacific region. How, then, should countries tackle these challenges?
This book takes a look at infrastructure financing in the Asia-Pacific region and proposes a number of new strategic approaches and priorities for infrastructure financing, based on three complementary points: first, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should serve as an overarching principle for establishing good practices at all stages of infrastructure development, from initial planning to construction and operation; second, governments need to provide an enabling environment for infrastructure financing and development, such as developing new financial instruments and financial markets that enable effective planning and utilization of infrastructure investments; and third, the private sector should be involved in infrastructure development as a partner in helping to achieve economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
This book advocates a shift in strategic thinking, whereby a more holistic approach to infrastructure financing can help promote infrastructure development in the Asia-Pacific region, thereby contributing to the development of the region and, ultimately, to the achievement of the sustainable development goals set out in the Asia-Pacific 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.