The Pacific Infrastructure Business Opportunities Seminar (PIBOS) was designed for international, regional, and local contractors and consultants interested in contributing to infrastructure development activities in the Pacific.

The event was hosted by the Government of Fiji, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank, in partnership with the Governments of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, and the Pacific Regional Infrastructure Facility. This flagship in-person event brought the business community together with key representatives from Pacific governments and development partners to discuss infrastructure development priorities for the Pacific region, particularly the growing opportunities in the transport, energy, water, ICT, and social infrastructure (health and education) sectors.

To strengthen exchanges among the business community, investors, and public buyers and to encourage greater local participation, the event featured a briefing for new entrants, a sector-specific industry feedback session, and networking opportunities.

The event offered an unparalleled opportunity to better understand the growing business opportunities in the Pacific and to explore how local, regional, and international public and private sector stakeholders could work in partnership to further strengthen trade and investment relationships in support of sustainable infrastructure development across the Pacific.

Prior to the Business Opportunities Seminar (BOS), businesses were invited to attend procurement and safeguard masterclasses on 25 May to gain in-depth insights into updates to procurement processes from public procurers and financiers.

See the draft agenda for the PIBOS and Pre-BOS masterclasses.

Objectives

The two-day BOS events covered:

• presentations of consolidated infrastructure project pipelines in Pacific developing member countries;
• marketplace for exchanges with Pacific developing member countries' public sector representatives;
• sector-focused networking to foster partnership development;
• private sector development track on banking, insurance, tax, PPP, and regulatory environment;
• opportunity to provide market feedback to public buyers and funders;
• local participation ideation workshop;
• networking and Q&A opportunities with development partners and governments

The pre-BOS masterclass on 25 May covered:

• New procurement directives of ADB and World Bank
• Environment and social requirements integration in infrastructure procurement