From 22-23 October, the Comptroller General’s Office of the Republic of Peru hosted a CoST regional workshop in Lima to support Latin American countries in strengthening transparency and accountability in the delivery of public infrastructure.

The event was opened by the British Ambassador, Anwar Choudhury, and the Comptroller General of the Republic, Fuad Khoury Zarzar. With a focus on Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Peru, the workshop brought together high-level policy makers and civil society leaders to reflect on existing transparency processes in the countries and drive efforts forward within infrastructure.

CoST expert representatives discussed transparency development and the simplification of public infrastructure execution processes, as well as the national and international benefits that can be gained from minimising mismanagement and reducing the risk of defective constructions. CoST demonstrated the methodology’s potential for impact by highlighting existing regional achievements – from a saving of 5 million USD on unnecessary bridge redevelopment works in Guatemala to a 34% increase in public disclosure of contracts in Honduras.

The event fostered multi-stakeholder working, demonstrating the benefits of uniting across the private, public and third sector for a common objective: increasing transparency and accountability in public infrastructure. Seeking sustainable impact, CoST will continue to work with participants to develop action plans from the event’s learnings to take forward transparency and accountability processes within their own countries.

The workshop was funded by the British Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO). The British Ambassador Anwar Choudhury said “The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to join the CoST initiative and we hope that this can help save from 3 to 4 billion dollars per year in the delivery cost of British infrastructure works. We want to help Peru and other Latin American countries to join us, too. That is why we are proud to fund this workshop in Lima.”

You can view all the photos from the event via the CoST Facebook page or catch up on the workshop’s activity with #CoSTLatAm – stay tuned for a full briefing from the workshop. Further information on CoST’s work in Latin America and beyond is available on our interactive map.