Irvin Francis

Irvin Francis is an experienced manager with a demonstrated history of working in well-known Malaysia’s Trade Promotion Organisation (TPO) – MATRADE. He serves the organization for quite some time, which enabled him to obtain strong professionalism in trade-related. He is also experienced in analyzing and forecasting trade data as well as nurturing Malaysian companies towards internationalization.

Kavita Sinha

Kavita Sinha leads grant-making strategies that enable corporates, utilities, civil society, financial institutions, and governments in Southeast and East Asia to transition to clean and low-carbon energy system. In her previous role, she worked with an American multinational firm that provides smart city, smart grid, and internet-of-things solutions, where she led strategic partnership, business development, and sales in key markets of Asia.

Quantifying the Economic and Social Impacts of High-Speed Rail: Some Evidence from Europe and China

In recent years, there has been an increasing move toward appraising the impacts of transport investments beyond the direct user benefits and costs. This presentation reviews the arguments in favor of measuring such impacts, the progress made in implementing such impacts in the appraisal, and the limitations of such an approach. It also shares disaggregate approaches that analyze the way new transport infrastructure, particularly high-speed rail, may lead to the restructuring and rebalancing of local and regional economies.

Andrew Jauncey

Andrew holds a Master’s degree in Applied Finance, with a specialization in Risk Management from Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia). He is also a Chartered Accountant (CA) from the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ). 

He is an experienced risk and finances professional with a demonstrated history of working in the clean energy and financial services sectors. He is also skilled in the development and implementation of risk management frameworks, business planning, analytical skills, and management. 

About CEFC

Amr Qari

Amr J. Qari currently serves as principal public-private partnership specialist in ADB’s Office of Public-Private Partnership (OPPP). He advises clients on structuring and tendering of PPP transactions and also leads the PPP Coordination and Support Team in OPPP, which is tasked with coordinating ADB’s PPP activities. Before joining ADB, Mr. Qari worked as a corporate lawyer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, where he specialized in syndicated lending, acquisition finance and project finance transactions.