Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Held the 2017 China PPP Market Transparency Report Press Conference and PPP Market Transparency Seminar

At present, the standardizedmanagement of PPP market is the focus of the work of PPP management departmentsat all levels, and the timely, while the information disclosure with timeliness,accuracy and adequacy is the basis for the standardized management of PPPprojects. Since 2017, many documents issued by the Ministry of Finance haveinvolved the information disclosure work of PPP projects. Under this context,commissioned by the Asian Development Bank, the Shanghai University of Financeand Economics PPP Research Center formed a research group, which lasted for nearlyone year, conducting a detailed assessment on the information disclosure statusof China's PPP projects.

On the afternoon of July 10, 2018,the PPP Research Center and China Public Finance Research Institute of ShanghaiUniversity of Finance and Economics held the 2017 China PPP Market Transparency Report Press Conference and PPPMarket Transparency Seminar. The meeting was hosted by the Prof. LiuXiaochuan, Executive Dean of China Public Finance Research Institute ofShanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Prof. Liu Xiaobing, Dean of the Schoolof Public Economics and Administration of Shanghai University of Finance andEconomics, gave his warm welcome and sincere appreciation to to the guests. Healso introduced the project background of the 2017 China PPP Market Transparency Report and hoped that the reportwould provide strong guidance for the healthy development of China's PPPmarket.

In this seminar, Fang Fang, thehead of the research group and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Schoolof Public Economics and Administration of Shanghai University of Finance andEconomics, officially released the 2017China PPP Market Transparency Report both in Chinese and English on behalfof the PPP Research Center of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.Jiao Xiaoping, Director of the Government and Social Capital Cooperation Centerof Ministry of Finance, and Qian Ying, the head of the Section of PublicAdministration, Financial and Regional Cooperation of the East Asia Departmentof the Asian Development Bank, delivered keynote speeches respectively. Theparticipating experts also had a heated discussion about the informationdisclosure work and standardized management of the China’s PPP project. At theend of the meeting, Gao Qiang, the Dean of the China Public Finance ResearchInstitute of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, former Director ofthe Budget Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People'sCongress, Minister of Ministry of Health, Vice Minister of Ministry of Finance,made a concluding remark.

According to the introduction madeby Fang Fang, the head of the research group, the research team had conducted adetailed evaluation of the information disclosure work of the 6962 PPP projectsincluded in the national PPP integrated information platform management libraryas of December 31, 2017, and compiled a set of “2017 China PPP MarketTransparency Index”. The index included 69 indicator fields, which were dividedinto immediate disclosure transparency index, timely disclosure transparencyindex, and transparency sub-index for each phase, for example theidentification phase, preparation phase, procurement phase, and execution phase,etc. As of December 31, 2017, the national PPP market transparency combinedindex was 63.71 (out of 100). Among them, the transparency combined index ofthe PPP demonstration project was 72.27, which was 10 points higher than thenon-demonstration project combined index of 62.04 points. At the sub-regionallevel, the transparency index of most provinces was concentrated between 50-70,and the indexes of five provinces exceeded 70, with Hebei Province (76.68)ranking the first, Yunnan Province (75.16) the second, Jilin Province (72.71)the third, Anhui Province (71.4) the fourth, and Hubei Province (70.33) thefifth.

Director Jiao Xiaoping pointed out in the keynote speech  PPP High-qualityDevelopment Assisted by Information Disclosure that strengthening informationdisclosure was an important instrumentality for promoting the modernization ofthe national governance system and governance capacity. Good completion of PPPinformation disclosure was of great significance to the implementation ofcentral government deployment, the reinforcement of government managementcapabilities, the stimulation of social capital vitality, the improvement of theuse efficiency of fiscal capital, the increase of public participation, and PPPdevelopment with the features of normalization, transparency, health and sustainability.In the future, the government and Social Capital Cooperation Center of theMinistry of Finance would further strengthen the PPP information disclosure,comprehensively structure the PPP information management and disclosureplatform, improve the information platform function to collect, summarize,release and, query information. What’s more, the big data would be used tostrengthen the summarization and analysis of information, and improve thepertinence and effectiveness of PPP information disclosure.

In the keynote speech of “Asian PPPObservation”, Qian Ying comprehensively reviewed the current situation of theAsian PPP market, especially the regulatory framework for countries in the PPPmarket. PPP market observation report of the Asian Development Bank used theform of red, green and yellow lights to horizontally assess the current statusof PPP's regulatory framework, organizational structure, financing tools andmarket maturity in many Asian countries. According to his introduction, Chinawas in a leading position in Asia in terms of project library construction.

In the round table discussion, theparticipating experts generally believed that the information disclosure withaccuracy, timeliness and adequacy was an important manifestation of PPPstandardized management, and China was at the forefront in this regard, layingthe foundation for the standardized development of China's PPP market. Theparticipating experts also generally believed that the release of this PPPmarket transparency report would motivate all departments to manage andparticipate in PPP projects more normatively and scientifically. China's PPPmarket would further develop and expand on the basis of standardization, andpromote the reform of China's public utilities and the construction of the “TheBelt and Road Initiative”.

In the final summary speech of themeeting, the Minister Gao Qiang emphasized the importance of informationdisclosure to the standardized management of the PPP market. ShanghaiUniversity of Finance and Economics had rich research experience in theevaluation of financial information disclosure. The work on PPP transparencyassessment this time was also very valuable. Minister Gao put forward someexpectations for the next step of PPP work. He believed that PPP projectsshould be planned and evaluated in advance, and the research work of theirbenefits and feasibility should be steady. The PPP market transparency reportcould not only assess whether the information was disclosed, but also whetherthe disclosed PPP work was standardized and scientific.

More than 60 people from PPP-related internationalorganizations, management departments, academic institutions, social capitalparties, intermediaries and financial institutions attended the seminar,including Ministry of Finance, New Development Bank, UNCTAD, Canadian ConsulateGeneral in Shanghai, Peking University, Central University of Finance andEconomics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Yunnan Provincial Department ofFinance, China Development Bank, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shanghai UnitedAssets and Equity Exchange, Citibank, Moody's, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LongyuanConstruction, Shanghai Construction Group, etc.