Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) manage assets of more than $6 trillion, and public sector pension funds worldwide almost triple this figure. With a long-term investment horizon, these investors have great potential to contribute to sustainable development through investment in relevant sectors, such as infrastructure, agriculture and healthcare. However, only a small portion of the available ‘reservoir’ is currently dedicated to direct investment and many developing countries, in particular those in Africa, are still largely absent from the portfolio of these funds.
At this high-level Round Table, policy makers, executives of SWFs and public pension funds and investment experts examined opportunities and challenges for mobilizing more investment by sovereign wealth and public pension funds in SDG sectors, and how governments and sovereign and public investors can work together to facilitate these investments and magnify their contributions to sustainable development.
Session 1: Opportunities and challenges
- What are the emerging trends of direct investment by sovereign investors?
- What opportunities can developing economies offer for sovereign investors in pro-development investment?
- What barriers curb sovereign investors’ appetite for long-term investments in these regions?
Session 2: Innovative schemes and tools
- What schemes and tools can be used to leverage long-term investment by sovereign investors?
- What risk-sharing schemes could be available to alleviate key concerns of sovereign investors for long-term investment?
- How to leverage options such as co-investment and private equity to ‘broker’ engagement by sovereign investors?
Session 3: Role of host countries
- What policy measures can host countries adopt to address the barriers faced by sovereign investors?
- How can governments better prepare bankable projects for sovereign investors?
- How can governments and sovereign investors work together to maximize the development benefits of sovereign investment while minimizing potential risks and negative impacts?
Speaker(s)
