Gastón Astesiano is Head of the Single Window for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the IDB's Vice Presidency for Countries. He joined the Bank in 2002 as part of the Young Professionals Program, in the Infrastructure Division of the Southern Cone. In 2007 he joined the Energy Division, where he was in charge of the development of energy projects. In 2011, he was appointed Operations Advisor of the Infrastructure Department, in charge of quality control of operations, management of the department's portfolio, and served as Coordinator of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). In September 2014, he was appointed Senior Advisor to the Vice Presidency of Countries, where he led the operational team in the design and implementation of corporate reforms such as: The New Guidelines for the preparation of Country Strategies of the IDB Group, The Regulation for the Incorporation of Parameters of Capital Adequacy in Financial Planning: Programming with Sovereign Guarantee Limits by Country and the Merger of the assets (U$5MM) of the Fund for Special Operations (FOE) to the Capital of the IDB. Since August 2017, he leads the IDB PPP Team, created to coordinate the IDB Group's technical assistance in PPP matters. He has a law degree from the Universidad Católica Argentina, is Master in Law (LLM) and Master in Economic Policy (MPA) from Columbia University.
The desalination industry offers an effective alternative to respond to water scarcity in the region, especially in a context where it is essential to engage the private sector, and develop and structure effective projects that meet social needs.