The Pan-Asia Project Development Fund is aiming to raise $100 million for infrastructure projects in India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries. As reported by Indiantelevision.com on Jan. 19, the sponsors of the fund are the government of India, ORIX Corp, a financial services group in Japan, and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services, Ltd. (IL&FS) of India. ORIX and IL&FS each have committed $10 million to the Fund.
Commenting on the cooperation between India and Japan, Anup Thakur, Economic Minister, Embassy of India in Japan said, "We are very pleased with this initiative which is a true bi-lateral partnership between Indian and Japanese corporations. It is our expectation that a host of infrastructure initiatives with attendant project exports from the two countries could result from this effort."
IL&FS developed a number of infrastructure projects in India, and had earlier set up the India Project Development Fund.
In a study by the World Bank, developing Asian countries will need to spend more than one trillion dollars over the next five years in various infrastructure sectors such as surface transport, urban infrastructure, communications and utilities.
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