Gulf International Bank (GIB) chief executive officer Dr Yahya Alyahya has been appointed a member in the Group of Twenty (G20) high level panel on infrastructure investment (HLPII).

The HLPII will prepare recommendations for scaling up and diversifying financing for infrastructure needs in the developing countries for further presentation to the next G20 summit.

The HLPII includes a number of high profile individuals with a diverse range of talents and expertise in the areas of private investment and infrastructure development in the developing countries.

Out of more than 40 candidates for this panel, Dr Alyahya was selected along with 11 other individuals.

In the past, Dr Alyahya served on the board of the World Bank Group as executive director representing Saudi Arabia from 1999 to 2006. He also served as an adviser to the governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency.

'I am delighted and honoured to take part in this important high level panel,' said Dr Alyahya.

'The mandate of the HLPII will be to prepare recommendations for the G20 summit in France in order to scale up and diversify financing for infrastructure needs, including financing from public, semi-public and private sector sources, and to identify with multilateral development banks a list of concrete regional initiatives.

'The panel will take into account the limitations of risk bearing capacity of private and semi-public finance, lessons of successes and failures from the past and ongoing programmes, best practice, the importance of durability and whole life costing, and innovative ways to mitigate and intermediate risks to attract finance.'

'In addition, the panel will review the action plan of the multilateral development banks and provide independent comments to ensure workability, maximisation of outcomes and a focus on environmental sustainability and transparency,' he added.

The final outcome of the HLPII will be reported to finance ministers' meetings and to the leaders of the G20.

The final report of the panel will be ready in November 2011.

The Group of Twenty finance ministers and central bank governors was established in 1999 to bring together systemically important industrialised and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy.-TradeArabia News Service