A two-day Workshop on Infrastructure Financing and Capital Market Development among members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) opened Thursday in central Philippine city of Iloilo.

The workshop, with a theme "Fostering APEC's Infrastructure through Long-Term Investment and Capital Market Development," addresses key challenges and opportunities that come with the region taking the driver's seat in the global economy.

"Making growth sustainable for the long-term benefit of our people involves making smart regional investments now on the future of our economies. We want our economies to work for our people: better connectivity and mobility to better support our growing, upward-moving populations," said Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima during the opening of the event.

Discussions held under the auspices of the APEC Finance Ministers' Process (FMP) in previous years have identified two major obstacles, he said.

The first is the lack of a pipeline of bankable infrastructure projects in developing economies that can attract capital from institutional investors. The second is the lack of appropriate financial instruments and enabling policy frameworks for pension funds and insurance firms to expand their investment in emerging market infrastructure.

Purisima said the Philippines' hosting of the APEC FMP addresses these two major obstacles to the advancement of APEC's vision of sustained, balanced and inclusive growth.

Key areas of discussion include capacity building to expand the pipeline of infrastructure projects, he added.

 Source:Xinhua