Foreign news

AIIB Fifth Anniversary Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank celebrates anniversary with eye on green post-pandemic recovery

Published

4 years ago

January 13, 2021

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, known as the AIIB, is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Today, the organization has doubled the number of members it had when it launched in Beijing back in 2016, making it the second largest of all multilateral banks. In the face of new global challenges, not least of all COVID-19, the AIIB is currently undergoing a transformation. Feng Yilei has more.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is re-thinking its strategy, from financing traditional infrastructure, to looking ahead to the future.

The international development bank has identified key emerging infrastructure trends that will drive the future of investment in previously overlooked areas.

The new focus? Infrastructure that is green and human-centred, with an eye on technology while enhancing connectivity.

The shift takes place in the context of COVID-19, which experts say has exposed weaknesses in infrastructure of many economies.

JIN LIQUN President of AIIB “At this juncture, it is important to point out that efforts to foster our health system as well as address climate change can no longer be dealt with in silence. We need to promote the intricate emerging pattern of the relationship between climate and health care problems. Rebooting the global economy will require that we no longer tackle challenges in isolation.”

The AIIB’s plans are laid out in its “Next-10-year Corporate Strategy” which establishes clear priorities and ambitious targets in its overall share of financing-50 percent for climate action by 2025, 25 to 30 percent for cross-border connectivity by 2030, and 50 percent for private sector operations by 2030.

In the medium-to-long term, the bank’s next chapter includes not just expanding into social infrastructure, but also ramping up investment in digital infrastructure, especially in less-developed regions.

JIN LIQUN President of AIIB “New infrastructure development boosted by new technologies will bring for immediate benefits and pay off in the long term. Global trade will eventually open up, and those countries who invest smartly would be ready to capitalize on those opportunities. Indeed, there will be, in my view, and overhaul of the existing structure to meet the needs of the digital era.”

As global policy makers struggle with the current global health crisis and its immediate aftermath, experts say it is imperative for multilateral development banks, such as the AIIB, to work with the private sector to mobilize much needed investment.

They say a key challenge is to leverage more international capital from the private sector or commercial banks that eye returns.

JIN LIQUN President of AIIB “To a certain extent, it’s not so easy to find common ground, but it’s possible. Private sector investors may not necessarily look at the highest returns when they know that by working with MDBs, actually, they have safety of their resources. And also with enhanced responsibility, they would love to work with MDBs.”

FENG YILEI Beijing “Over the past half a decade, the president of the AIIB says he has witnessed the progress in terms of how development bank operates, including its policies, regulations, staffing and institutional environment.”

Challenges brought about by the pandemic have accelerated change in the overall development of multilateral development banks. The AIIB says it has gained critical experience and the opportunity to further evolve its business model, to play a central role in the stability of global finance. Feng Yilei, CGTN, Beijing.

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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