Can governments in partnership with the private sector and non-profit organisations promote sustainable development? This is the primary question of the project led by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. International law offices in the person of Partner Arthur Nitsevych is engaged by the project as a Ukrainian expert in the field of PPP. This research is examining whether, and under what conditions, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can be conceived to include criteria for peace and sustainable development. This would include considerations for sustainable management of resources, equitable access to these resources for both women and men affected by the PPPs, as well as their safety, the security in the region, and the protection of infrastructure.

There are currently no internationally accepted guidelines on whether, and if so, how PPP agreements could incorporate considerations for sustainable and equitable development and for security, and how the participation of non-profit and non-governmental organisations could be beneficial to all partners and stakeholders. This research will not only investigate these questions, but also develop benchmarking criteria for the partners to measure the extent to which they actually contribute to peace and sustainable development.

Why study Public-Private Partnerships? Although private companies are not usually expected to provide public goods and services that national governments supply (such as public security, access to clean water, education, transportation), through partnering in PPPs they can obtain access to new markets and profitable returns at lower risks. This is often the case in fragile societies or countries undergoing economic and political transition.

At the same time, PPPs permit governments to provide their citizens with costly infrastructure and public services that they might otherwise not be able to afford. The international community has recognized this and now encourages the establishment of PPPs, but not of any kind. Rather, these partnerships need to take sustainable development, including human security, social equality, the safety of critical infrastructure and good governance into consideration.

Public-Private Partnerships can only work by governments and private sector coming together to espouse a set of common objectives, which should be clearly presented to the population. In this context, a Public Private Partnership Alliance Programme is active under the UNECE co-ordination. It consists of an informal association of professional experts coming from the public and the private sectors, whose willingness is to work with United Nations to promote the use of PPP structures in central and eastern Europe and CIS.

PPP is a key component of United Nations' programme for sustainable development. United Nations issued a declaration calling for the development of partnerships between the private and the public sector to address critical challenges of poverty and social deprivation.

Reflecting this interest in PPPs as tools for development and the critical role of the private sector, the UNECE agreed to establish an Alliance of public and private sectors for infrastructure development. The Alliance is a business-and action-oriented body to engage governments interested in applying PPPs and to offer them advice and support. It works closely with other bodies such as the EBRD, OECD, UNIDO and UNCITRAL. This Alliance fundamentally would improve the environment for PPPs in the region with the following benefits accruing:

• Accelerated delivery of projects;
• Raised awareness of governments about the potential of PPPs;
• Saving of resources through the involvement and pooling of all groups' efforts in achieving clearly defined goals;
• Direct involvement of the private sector in delivery of advice and support with the benefit to the private sector of access of interested governments;
• Development of pilot projects and facilitating country's initial efforts to establish the appropriate institutions and training;
• Reach-out programmes to NGOs and domestic private sectors including local banks.