Sharjah 24 - WAM: The Ministry of Finance, MoF, has participated in the G20 Finance Track, the Fourth Infrastructure Working Group, IWG, meeting, and discussed challenges and potential solutions faced by the world in infrastructure investments.

Discussions at the meeting also involved efforts of the G20 members to bridge the infrastructure investment gap, which promotes the recovery and growth of the global economy. Ali Sharafi, Director of the Budget Department at MoF, participated in the meeting. During the meeting, which was held virtually, MoF reaffirmed the UAE’s determination to continue supporting international efforts to mitigate the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, by promoting investment in infrastructure. The ministry also highlighted the importance of bridging the data gap for advancing the G20 Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class. It also emphasised restoring investor confidence through facilitating possible exchange of knowledge on different government incentive programmes on infrastructure investments, as well as leveraging project data, to display the availability of infrastructure deals on a global and local scale. Furthermore, MoF noted the importance of deploying digitally enabled investments and financial innovation solutions to spur quality investments and support the inclusion of smaller market-players. Also stressed was the creation of a ‘readiness for crisis and emergencies’ indicator, in order to promote the infrastructure flexibility to combat crises. Additionally, the Ministry called for promoting new forms of investments and particularly those involving non-banking financial institutions in infrastructure financing. During the meeting, the members discussed the IWG contribution to the G20 Action Plan building on the G20 Infrastructure efforts to increase the resilience of infrastructure against risks and promote quality infrastructure investments. Additionally, the members discussed ways to accelerate efforts to mobilise private sources of infrastructure financing, and enhance the accessibility and availability to infrastructure data in support of investment decisions. The outcomes of the meeting will be presented to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in October 2020 and to the G20 Leaders in November 2020.