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Event Background
EVENT
Workshop 3: Digital Infrastructure Financing
Digital Infrastructure Introductory Workshop Series
Workshop 3: Digital Infrastructure Financing
25 March

2026

TIME: 25 March 2026, 22:00 - 00:00 (GMT+8)

LOCATION: Virtual

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SUMMARY

Workshop Series

The digital economy, the fastest growing sector worldwide and a crucial driver inclusive and sustainable development, depends on digital infrastructure to support it. However, there is limited knowledge of digital infrastructure and how governments in developing countries can best support its development to gain a competitive advantage.

The four-part virtual Digital Infrastructure Introductory Workshop Series examines digital infrastructure’s role in economic development strategies, how to prioritize and finance it, and keys to managing associated risks. Workshops in the series feature high-level speakers, including ministers from emerging markets, distinguished scholars, private sector representatives, and development practitioners, and help participants:

  • Enhance their understanding of innovative financing mechanisms for digital infrastructure, drawing on good practices
  • Network with experts from International Financial Institutions (IFIs), government ministries and agencies, and the private sector to foster partnerships for future digital infrastructure projects
  • Receive support in developing project ideas for multilateral financing

Certificate

Participants attending the workshop series will receive a certificate for each session.

Workshop 3: Digital Infrastructure Financing

This session will highlight digital infrastructure financing and concrete lessons from Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean to help participants learn how to finance digital infrastructure effectively, including what IFIs can offer and how to access their support. It will draw on case studies emanating from these regions as well as the International Telecommunication Union Connecting Humanity Report, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank G20 publication on Digital Infrastructure Financing.

AGENDA
SPEAKERS
Panelists
Antonio García Zaballos
Antonio García Zaballos
Director, Digital Sector Office, Asian Development Bank
<p>Antonio García Zaballos is the Director of the Digital Sector Office at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Before joining the ADB, he was a Lead Specialist in Telecommunications for the Institutions for Development and also led the broadband initiative at the Inter-American Development Bank. Antonio has extensive experience in the telecom sector, having held various positions of responsibility. At Deloitte Spain, he led the regulation and strategy practice for Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to that, he was the Chief Economist at Telefónica's Cabinet for Economic Studies of Regulation in Spain. Before joining Telefónica, Antonio served as Deputy Director of Economic Analysis and Markets at the Spanish Telecom Regulator (CMT).</p> <p>Throughout his career, Antonio has provided advisory services to regulators, telecom operators, and governments in countries such as Saudi Arabia, China, Ecuador, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Poland, and the Czech Republic, among others.</p> <p>Antonio also serves as a member and expert on several committees, including the World Economic Forum and the International Telecommunication Union. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University Carlos III of Madrid and has been an associate professor of applied finance for telecommunications at the Instituto de Empresa Business School, as well as a professor of economic regulation at American University and Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of numerous publications on economic and regulatory aspects of the telecommunications sector.</p>
Moderator and Strategic Lead
Ivan Rossignol
Ivan Rossignol
Senior Advisor on Digital Infrastructure, MCDF
<p>Ivan Rossignol works as a senior advisor to multilateral banks, governments, and consulting firms. He focuses on digital infrastructure, competitiveness and growth strategies, cities and cluster approaches. Ivan’s recent consulting assignments include defining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s Digital infrastructure strategy, chairing the global working group on digital infrastructure risks, and providing expert advice on digital infrastructure financing at the G20 under the Indonesia and India presidencies in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Ivan is a former director at the World Bank, where he spent 24 years advising governments on economic development, growth opportunities, and competitiveness, mostly in South Asia and Africa. He helped found the World Bank competitiveness practice and was its first Chief Technical Specialist (Director). While at the World Bank, Ivan also worked as Country Director of Sri Lanka and Maldives, was selected (not appointed) as Country Director for Afghanistan, worked as Acting Global Director of Practice for Trade and Competitiveness, manager of the Trade and Competitiveness practice in South Asia, and managed the World Bank country office in Egypt (2006). Ivan also worked for COMESA as a World Bank secondee (2000). He has lived in several African countries as well as in India. He has taught development economics as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, the University of Edinburgh, and as a Honorary Professor at Heriot-Watt University. He has delivered lectures at Harvard University and Cambridge University. Ivan published several articles on competitiveness. More recently, he published a financial method to evaluate the cost of natural capital (2022) and a Compendium on Digital Infrastructure Financing (2022 @G20).</p>
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AUDIENCE

The workshop is tailored for officials of ministries of information and communications technology, digital economy, digital infrastructure, finance, planning, agriculture, and rural development and relevant regulatory authorities, particularly those from developing countries. Staff from International Financial Institutions (IFIs), digital infrastructure companies, project developers, and developing country financiers working in the sector, as well as other interested stakeholders, are also encouraged to participate.

FORMAT

The workshop will be held virtually. Presentations, case studies, and discussions will be conducted in English, with simultaneous translation in Spanish and French.

Participants will engage through small group discussions, quick-answer apps, and question and answer sessions at the end of each panel discussion.

Video recordings of select workshop content will be uploaded on the MCDF website.

ORGANIZING PARTNERS

Jointly organized by the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF), African Development Bank, CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and World Bank Group.

CONTACT

If you would like to learn more about the Digital Infrastructure Introductory Workshop Series or get in touch with the IFI co-organizers, please contact MCDF’s Ms. Jenny Lou Fernandez jenny.fernandez@themcdf.org