Newsletter – n°15 – October 2012

Headlines

In the framework of the European Development Days, the Barcelona Province, in collaboration with its partners, including PLATFORMA, organised a high level panel on public-private partnerships in decentralised cooperation.

In a context where public administration budgets are limited and local government resources are under pressure, these partnerships are more and more sought for, as they allow to diversify financing and share risks. Thus, public-private partnerships allow maintaining public investment in key economic sectors such as infrastructure, but also in social sectors such as habitat or agriculture.

Moreover, the public sector can support evolution in the private sector and encourage inclusive development, which everybody can benefit from. Certain models developed in Latin America, particularly in the framework of the URBAL project, promote more solidarity in entrepreneurial models through a close cooperation between local and regional authorities, NGOs and the private sector.

It is also with this in mind that the Sousse municipality (Tunisia), with the support of the Arc Latin network, gathers several private stakeholders, including the chamber of commerce and the city’s agricultural promotion agency, as well as producers and retailers, around a project aiming to develop local products. Besides the product enhancement measures, the project also allows support for the distribution process.

Companies also get something out of the project; there is obviously a commercial logic in this approach, namely supporting the development of countries which will later become markets, but this also allows companies to play an important part in capacity building and knowledge sharing, domains they hold dear.

However, for these partnerships to be successful, a series of conditions must be met. Local governments must be able to lead the projects, with the citizens’ interest in mind, and operate with the greatest transparency. The private sector must demonstrate responsibility and solidarity and exceed the simple profit-making logic. Finally, a strong civil society is necessary.  

The conclusions of the debates are available on the website of the European Development Days.

Speakers:

Kamilia Hmila – Deputy director in charge of the budget, City of Sousse (Tunisia); Harold Flores Gamez – Director of the URBAL III emiDEL project, La Paz (Bolivia); Allal Ouazzani – Adviser of the secretary general of the Union for the Mediterranean; Isidre Sala Queralt - Director of international cooperation, Competitiveness Agency of Cataluña; Enric Pedrós Beyà - Manager with the Federation of agricultural machinery companies of Cataluña; David Melua - Secretary general of the local authorities association of Georgia; Abdoulaye Sene - President of Global Local Forum; Gerhard Stahl - Secretary general of the Committee of the Regions; Octavi de la Varga Mas - Director of the cooperation department of the Barcelona Province. The debate was moderated by Cristina Gallach, Chief of Unit, Council of the European Union.