On August 10th Senior Program Officer Nina Sughrue participated in a one day workshop in Istanbul, Turkey called "Public-Private Partnerships in Governance and Economic Reconstruction in Iraq."

The purpose of the joint workshop, which was convened by UNDP Iraq, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the Business Humanitarian Forum, the UN-mandated University for Peace and the U.S. Institute of Peace, was to provide participants with an opportunity to benefit from information and experiences in using public-private partnerships to further economic reconstruction activities and improve governance in post-conflict areas. Specifically, the workshop sought to discuss techniques to enhance the capabilities of the attendees and their organizations to create Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), to share national and regional PPP experiences, and to develop ideas for next steps by the participants through a round-table discussion.

 The focus of the workshop was on Iraq, given that the participants were high-level officials of the Iraqi government and parliament, and senior-level businessmen and consultants specializing in subjects pertinent to Iraqi economic issues.

The direct objectives of the workshop were to sensitize and inform participants about the mutual benefits of public-private partnerships in enhancing the effectiveness of economic reconstruction activities, to demonstrate ways in which the public and private sectors can work together in this area as well as to raise the level of competence in governance measures relating to economic reconstruction, and to discuss techniques and experiences in achieving these goals. More generally, the partners designed the workshop to emphasize the central role of the private sector in rebuilding the economy of Iraq, especially concerning investment and the creation of companies and jobs that allow people to provide for their families, focus on their own welfare, and reduce the propensity to return to conflict. Secondary objectives included techniques for fighting corruption as well as modalities for privatizing State-owned Enterprises (SOEs).

USIP will be looking for ways to help these workshop participants have access to other training and networking opportunities as part of the Institute's broader efforts in Iraq.