AIIB needs to ‘step up’ to help countries finance sustainable, resilient infrastructure: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

At a time when the world is facing multiple challenges with climate change making its presence increasingly felt, the need for sustainable and resilient infrastructure is higher than ever, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on September 25.

However, geopolitical tensions and unsustainable debt burden is limiting ability of many countries to finance this infrastructure, and this puts the onus on Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to step up in this situation and the AIIB Governors have the responsibility to ensure that multilateral finance agency delivers, Sitharaman said while attending the Governors’ Business Roundtable at the 9th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of AIIB, in Samarkand.

While praising AIIB’s "client centric approach, its agile response" during the COVID-19 pandemic, "execution of several special funds to deepen client outreach and the recent initiatives like climate-focused policy-based financing", the minister stated that as envisaged by the G20, "much more needs to be done; both in terms of scale and impact," according to a post on X by the finance ministry.

Sitharaman exhorted AIIB to strive for standardisation and greater provision of innovative financial tools and products, besides playing a catalytic role in mobilising private sector resources, not just in terms of capital but also its technical expertise, innovation, and market-driven approaches.