The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is encouraging joint investment in developing countries including Afghanistan, saying that such projects will be implemented efficiently.

Addressing a session on the sidelines of the ADB annual meeting in Manila, Philippines, on Wednesday, the officials said the implementation of a joint investment policy is important for attracting investment and building infrastructure in developing countries including Afghanistan.

Participants at the meeting said the Philippines was a leading country in implementing its joint investment policy between government and the private sector.

“Bringing in the private sector is a way to help fund projects, and also sometimes the private sector can do it much faster, it is more efficient and sometimes they do it a bit more cost effectively,” said Kelly Bird the country director of ADB in the Philippines.

The Philippines government has established six big centers of management of joint economic projects in the past six years by starting work on 16 big government-private sector projects worth billions of dollars.

“What that law has done is to privatize power generation, meaning the construction, the operation and ownership of the power generation would be by the private sector. So, there is nothing to be returned to the government,” head of investment management of public private partnership in the Philippines, Fordinand, told TOLOnews.