OPPS exhibited at the 10th World Urban Forum (sponsored by UN-Habitat) held in Abu Dhabi, UAE (United Arab Emirates) from February 8 to 13. In addition to OPPS, we exhibited panels introducing smart city initiatives by three member companies (Index Consulting Co., Ltd., Daiwa Lease Co., Ltd., and Fujita Corporation).

World Cities Forum Venue (Abu Dhabi)

In addition, Ms. Ikedo of Index Consulting Co., Ltd., a member company, represented OPPS at the panel discussion on February 9th and gave a presentation titled “Localizing the SDGs through PPP in Smart Cities – Lessons learned from Asia to the world-”. We did. Mr. Kurita, Vice-Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and Ms. Ikedo were the only two speakers from Japanese government agencies/companies.

Ms. Ikedo giving a presentation

The World Urban Forum is held every two years and is a large-scale international conference attended by more than 20,000 people from 160 countries around the world. OPPS will continue to share and disseminate information on smart cities.

Activity introduction panel (Daiwa Lease + Fujita)

At the 3rd US-Japan Infrastructure Forum (sponsored by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Texas Economic Development Corporation) held on February 6 in Austin, Texas, OPPS exhibited at a booth and introduced its activities.

Forum venue

At the forum, a keynote speech and various reports were given after the greetings of Senior Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; Mr. Minorikawa. The forum participants included Mr. Hanada of Maeda Corporation (introducing examples of road concession projects and sharing information), Mr. Takamasu of the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development (overseas infrastructure projects in JOIN), Mr. Kawakami of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (Japan Bank for International Cooperation in the United States and Cooperation with the State of Texas) is making a presentation. Regarding the exhibition held at another venue, two member companies, Index Consulting Co., Ltd. and Fujita Corporation, participated in the forum as exhibitors.

OPPS exhibition booth

On February 13, we held the first OPPS seminar, “Mechanism and Essence of Overseas Infrastructure/PPP Projects,” which was planned with the aim of learning the basics of PPP in response to the voices of member companies. A total of 32 people attended, filling the venue.

The lecturer was Mr. Gin Sasaki, Executive Officer and Managing Director of Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory LLC. Based on his experience at think tanks and international financial institutions, he gave a practical and easy-to-understand talk about “overseas PPP overview and key points in 3 hours”.

It was very well received by everyone who participated, and all respondents to the questionnaire gave the impression that they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied.” In addition, we have received many comments such as “The explanation was very easy to understand and I learned a lot” about the specialized and advanced content.

We plan to hold two more seminars within the year. In principle, it is for OPPS members, but non-members can also participate for a fee. If you would like to participate, please contact the OPPS secretariat.

The 4th meeting of the OPPS Forum was held on January 30th at the Trust City Conference Marunouchi for the purpose of mutual exchange and information sharing among members. 10 regular member companies, 1 associate member company, and an observer, Mr. Miyasaka, from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Overseas Project Promotion Division participated.

There were reports on overseas arena PPP case studies, overseas PPP project progress reports, overseas development banks’ PPP support schemes, and overseas smart city activities. In addition, plans for PPP seminars (study groups) have been announced, and we plan to invite participants and hold a total of three seminars by the end of the fiscal year.

4th OPPS Forum

Following the forum, the 2020 New Year’s party was held. Mr. Kunihiro Yamada, Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr. Yasuhiro Okanishi, Director-General for International Affairs, Mr. Hideki Hirai, Deputy Director-General, and Mr. Yusuke Miyasaka, Director of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism attended as guests, and received a very grateful congratulatory address from Mr. Yamada. Mr. Keisuke Nakamura, Director of the Asian Office of the Inter-American Development Bank, also participated.

New Year’s party

This year, OPPS is in its second year of activity, and will continue to vigorously promote activities toward the formation of overseas PPP projects and the promotion of projects by member companies.