Financing sustainable development

The research is undertaken to understand the role of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the galaxy of diverse Multilateral Development Financing Institutions that have a rich history of supporting development projects across the world. The AIIB’s entry is premised on the context to support and minimize the infrastructure gap in the developing world, most notably Asian countries.

 

The Bank understands itself to be course corrector, in the sense it seeks to build on the experiences and challenges of existing banks such as World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and other institutions. A detailed analysis of the bank’s institutional, governance architecture and its policies is also included. The bank has competitively managed to position itself in developmental projects around the world and has had groundswell of support from countries who have subscribed to its shareholding structure. The emphasis of the Bank is to critically promote sustainable infrastructure through active support cross-sectoral ventures that will mitigate climate change effects, increase access in energy, transportation and catalyze on private sector financing to achieve results.

 

In order to fully fathom the extent of its activities, the research has undertaken to study four case studies which include two of AIIB’s projects in India and two projects funded in Egypt and Azerbaijan. A major focus of this study is intended to apprise Civil Society of the modalities, thrusts and themes focused by the Bank and review the various gaps and deficits in thematic areas focused by the bank. In the long run it is envisioned that AIIB establishes a forum as in the case with World Bank and International Monetary Fund where Civil Society participation can utilize its platform to provide critical input on policy coherence.