In collaboration with Counterpart International – Ecuador and supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), ISLP delivered a workshop on “The Role of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for the Economic Reactivation of Ecuador” on September 13th and 14th in Quito. This convening was part of a two-year project in Ecuador to support multi-stakeholder engagement in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan. More than 40 participants attended the the two-day event led by ISLP volunteers from White & Case with other experts from Ecuador, Chile, El Salvador, Colombia, and the United States. Attendees included key representatives from the Ecuadorian government, such as the Secretariat of PPPs, the Ministries of Transport and Finance, the National Procurement Office; the private sector; international institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America; and representatives from USAID and the US Department of the Treasury.
Building trust between the government and the private sector is a crucial component for the success of PPPs; however, in previous years, tensions eroded trust between the government and the private sector in Ecuador. As such, the participation of key decision makers from multiple sectors provided an important platform for cross-sector dialogue, communication, and knowledge exchange.
L-R: María Fernanda Garcés of Universidad de los Hemisferios, Felipe Altamirano of the Secretariat of PPPs, Suzanne Perry, ISLP volunteer from White and Case, and Darío Herrera, Minister of Transportation.