The challenges facing development cannot be overcome without public-private partnerships (PPPs). This is the main conclusion reached by a research published January 18 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), an independent international organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to the report, nine out of ten world business leaders consider that partnerships between companies, governments and society have to have some participation, if not the main role, in facing these challenges.

The research was carried out by the Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative (GCCI) with more than 40 associated companies. The GCCI is an organization part of the Forum, and its objective is to promote the interaction between companies and the societies where they are established.

"Many of the public-private partnerships are new and untested and some of them are likely to fail. Yet, these partnerships offer an important new approach that has the potential to drive innovation, improve governance, raise living standards and provide opportunities to millions of people.

"They deserve continued support, engagement, and evaluation from business leaders," said the managing director at the Institute for Partnership and Governance at the WEF, Richard Samans, according to a statement published in the WEF site.

In the research, China shows up as the main market for the companies, amongst the emerging economies. Mentioned as important markets were also India, Brazil, Russia, the south of Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

One of the objectives of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his journey to Davos (Switzerland) in the end of the month, is exactly to present the PPP opportunities in Brazil.

President Lula will participate in the WEF meeting and will meet with international investors.

For the first time he will be able to present the rules for the PPPs in Brazil as something concrete, since the law for the partnerships was approved by congress in December.

(From Brazzil Magazine, January 19, 2005)

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