The informal dialogue aims to generate momentum and raise ambition on proposals to contribute to enhancing investments in quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure, including a risk-informed approach to infrastructure development and management. It also aims to create a platform to share best practices and strategies to enhance collaboration and partnerships within and between regions and regional and interregional challenges faced and to engage on means of implementation including innovative financing mechanisms and partnerships to support improved connectivity, resiliency, and quality of infrastructure systems.  

The dialogue will consist of an opening, plenary segment and two multistakeholder panels. The dialogue will be open to Member States, Observers, United Nations system, ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations, and other relevant stakeholders.  

Plenary  

The plenary segment will highlight Member States’ perspectives on building global resilience and promoting sustainable development through infrastructure connectivity including the critical factors that have facilitated advancements in infrastructure connectivity, as well as primary challenges being faced. To this end, participants are encouraged to highlight new commitments, pledges or declarations in infrastructure connectivity and progress in existing initiatives.  

Multistakeholder Panel 1 – Bridging the Gap: Challenges and Best Practices to Forge a Resilient Future through Infrastructure Connectivity. 

This panel will discuss the bottlenecks in achieving infrastructure connectivity and explore best practices in infrastructure connectivity. It will highlight region-specific challenges and the critical enablers that result in impactful, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure initiatives. The discussion will explore measures and policies essential for ensuring inclusive and sustainable access to infrastructure for all, aligning with principles of social and environmental responsibility and the reduction of inequalities, and the role of international cooperation in ensuring that the development of resilient infrastructure aligns with broader sustainability and resilience goals while improving regional and interregional connectivity. 

  Guiding Questions: 

• What lessons can be learned from integrated approaches to environmental sustainability, resilience, and connectivity? What good practices can be shared on involving regional and local governments in the planning and implementation of infrastructure projects? 

• How can the international community better collaborate to promote the exchange of best practices and overcome the challenges in infrastructure connectivity, across regions and in countries most vulnerable to climate change and economic challenges? 

• How does infrastructure connectivity influence economic recovery, job creation, and addressing inequalities, especially in the context of the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and desertification? 

• What measures and policies are needed to ensure affordable and equitable access to infrastructure for all, considering the principles of inclusivity as well as economic, social and environmental sustainability? 

Multistakeholder Panel 2 – Achieving Infrastructure Resilience through partnership, solidarity, and innovation. 

The panel 2 will explore the means of implementation to support investment in resilient infrastructure including innovative finance mechanisms options, public-private partnerships, and blended finance models. It will delve into the collaboration between international financial institutions and the private sector to scale up investments in resilient infrastructure projects, with a focus on groups of countries facing unique challenges. The panel aims to identify the systems and mechanisms to support various phases of infrastructure connectivity and examine the role of international cooperation in addressing challenges and vulnerabilities in global supply chains within the context of infrastructure connectivity. 

Guiding Questions: 

• What strategies can be implemented to bridge the infrastructure investment gap and ensure sustainable and resilient development?  

• What innovative financing mechanisms, such as blended finance models, have shown promising results in mobilizing resources for sustainable infrastructure development? 

• In what ways can international financial institutions, development partners and private sector actors collaborate to scale up investments in resilient infrastructure projects, particularly in regions facing unique challenges, such as LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS? 

• What role can international cooperation play in facilitating investment while addressing the challenges and vulnerabilities in global supply chains, particularly in the context of infrastructure connectivity? 

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For further information please contact Ms. Sneha Dubey, Senior Adviser on Sustainable Development and Financing for Development, at the Office of the President of the General Assembly. –  sneha.dubey@un.org