UAE global-development minister calls for more public-private partnerships

Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, minister of international cooperation and development and head of the UAE Committee for the Coordination of Humanitarian Foreign Aid, is calling on her international counterparts to work on the partnership between the public and private sectors to create innovative financing solutions.

She’s using her platform, as head of the foreign-aid committee, to call for better cooperation between public and private entities to meet development goals.

Her recommendations came as part of the Sustainable Development World Summit 2015 meetings recently held during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The meeting aimed to highlight the need for a new approach to finance development that is in line with the U.N.’s new sustainable development goals.

Al Qasimi emphasized the UAE's active role in finding additional private-sector resources to overcome development challenges. Building partnerships between the public and private sectors can provide innovative financing solutions.

“Through its forthcoming foreign-aid policy and strategy, the UAE is exploring opportunities to further enhance the efficiency and impact of its foreign-aid sector, work closely with the private sector to support investment in developing countries, and stimulate financing from other quarters," Al Qasimi said.

To do that, policies must be based on deeper understanding of the challenges the world faces, Al Qasimi said.

“Meeting development objectives is not simply an issue of raising more resources, but also of addressing market failures,” Al Qasimi said. “This is where governments have a crucial role in understanding the needs of the private sector and leveraging their influence to create an enabling environment for trade and commerce. We can act to reduce the risk of investment and enhance the opportunities for public-private partnerships."