This initiative is part of a global momentum towards sustainable and multi-partner development.

Today, public-private partnerships and sustainable development have become part of everyday vocabulary and the number of public-private partnerships concluded in the last decade has grown exponentially.

Business engagement is crucial to the advancement of the Post-2015 development agenda, which will be officially adopted in September 2015:

“Governments, acting in concert, will need to lead, but a truly effective global partnership will have to enlist as active partners all of society, including the business sector, which is the main driver of global economic growth and job creation, and also a major source of the technologies needed to address global problems.” - Progress report A/67/941 of the Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals

The active involvement of the private sector in partnerships, local networks and sectoral initiatives will be essential for the advancement of the sustainable development goals. This international platform will serve as a tool to guide the action of the private sector for sustainable development.

This platform intends to bring together actors of public-private partnerships and offers them a space for learning and sharing. It includes both a physical component (periodical events) and a long-term virtual component (interactive repository on public-private partnerships). Holistically, the platform provides a framework for events and networking, bringing together actors of public-private partnerships and leading to the implementation of concrete sustainable development projects at the local level.

The first event organized in the framework of this platform will be an International Forum, held on the 29 and 30 October 2015 in Annemasse, France. This Forum marked the official launch of the virtual platform. Held shortly after the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and a few weeks before the COP21 meeting in Paris, this Forum explored how public-private partnerships can contribute to the advancement of the new Sustainable Development Objectives, particularly at the local level.

The Forum included a range of plenary sessions addressing important topics such as the role of public-private partnerships in the reduction of global warming and specificities of PPPs at national and local levels. This event also featured a series of targeted workshops discussing the judicial and financial aspects of PPPs. The Forum will conclude with a Good Practices Forum, during which specific case studies of PPPs will be analyzed. Participants and local civil society will also be invited to special events before and after the Forum.

A range of prominent speakers from international organizations, the private sector, local authorities, financial and academic institutions have confirmed their participation, for what turned out to be a unique international event. 

Annemasse, France, is the host city and strategic partner of this project and is actively involved in public-private partnerships for sustainable development at the local level.

The platform is developed under the high patronage of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development. The French Permanent Mission in Geneva actively assists with the organization of the Forum. 

Several other United Nations organizations based in Geneva are partners of this project, including UNECE, UNCTAD, ILO, UNDP and UNEP. In particular, UNITAR has been working closely with UNECE, which has provided valuable substantive input for the Forum.

This initiative, which will positively impact the local area, is officially supported by the Rhône-Alpes Region and the Department of Haute-Savoie in France.