Category: Host Country Seminar | Thematic Stream: Others | Location: El Wadi | Audience: Open Session

How resource mobilization, blended and innovative finance can help bridge the infrastructure financing gap in the Middle East and Africa.

The negative impact of geopolitical tensions coupled with COVID-19 have severely impaired developing countries' ability to finance infrastructure projects. These raised the importance of policy reform, resource mobilization and financing models that support public and private partnerships to catalyze investment for new infrastructure. Using different financing instruments has become increasingly important for emerging markets and developing countries to sustain their appetite for growth and development.

Resource mobilization outlines how the government plans to secure financial resources needed to implement a desired program. It assists governments in identifying and applying for relevant funding opportunities and build partnerships with targeted stakeholders. Blended finance has increasingly been focused on developmental financing, mixing public sector social return objectives with financial return objectives of the private sector. Innovative financing has become a core topic of discussion among policymakers to minimize the financing gap incurred, and reduce the cost of funding.

Speakers of this seminar will:

- Highlight the major financing activities necessary to merge public objectives of development and private sector involvement with typical market profitability expectations and controlled risk.
- Identify and analyze the existing and potential resources available to developing countries and emerging markets to fix the financing gap.
- Discuss the characteristics of blended finance, including the leverage that attracts capital and mitigates the risk for private sector further involvement.
- Focus on how to shift the resource mobilization through innovative fundraising approaches to the delivery of positive social and environmental outcomes through market-based instruments.