The Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) launched two connectivity infrastructure reports, on Central and West Asia and Southeast Asia, during a high-level seminar held alongside the 2025 Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Annual meeting on 26 June in Beijing. The seminar was cohosted with AIIB’s Economics Department. The reports are the first two volumes of the new flagship MCDF Connectivity Infrastructure Report Series, which shares practical insights on cross-border connectivity infrastructure projects financed by International Financial Institutions (IFIs).
The high-level seminar highlighted IFI practices and lessons in supporting the development and implementation of cross-border infrastructure projects. It featured author presentations which detailed key takeaways from the two connectivity infrastructure series reports, Bridging Central and West Asia and the World and Catalyzing Connectivity in Southeast Asia. It also included a presentation on a 2024 Group of 20 (G20) report on delivering connectivity infrastructure co-prepared by AIIB.
Click to Download Bridging Central and West Asia and the World
Click to Download Catalyzing Connectivity in Southeast Asia
The seminar went on to feature a panel of senior government officials and IFI partners who addressed related connectivity issues.
They included Mr. Sulton Rahimzoda, Chairman of Tajikistan’s State Committee on Investments and State Property Management, Mr. Soulivath Souvannachoumkham, Deputy Finance Minister of Lao PDR, Mr. Atter Hannoura, Director of the Central Public-Private Partnerships Unit at Egypt’s Finance Ministry, Ms. Manuela Ferro, World Bank Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific, and Mr. Gianpiero Leoncini, Executive Vice President of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF). The panel was moderated by Mr. Jang Ping Thia, Lead Economist and Manager at AIIB’s Economics Department.
“The new MCDF Connectivity Infrastructure Report Series and AIIB’s co-prepared G20 report both underscore the importance of partnerships for delivering high-quality cross-border connectivity infrastructure,” said MCDF CEO Zhongjing Wang in the seminar’s opening remarks. This includes partnerships between countries to design and implement the infrastructure and between financiers needed to finance large cross-border projects, he noted.
In their presentations on the MCDF connectivity infrastructure reports for Central and West Asia and Southeast Asia, the respective lead authors, Mr. Xianbin Yao and Mr. Juzhong Zhuang, discussed IFI financing trends and imperatives for cross-border infrastructure projects outlined in the reports. They include examples of IFI support for digital, energy, and transport connectivity projects, as well information on hard and soft infrastructure, project performance indicators, and recommendations for both regions based on IFI lessons and experiences.
Mr. Murtaza Syed of AIIB outlined nine principles for delivering cross-border infrastructure described in AIIB’s co-prepared G20 Infrastructure Working Group report number four. They call for a regional vision, cognizance of cost and benefit distribution, mobilizing cross-border planning teams and stakeholder engagement, securing political support, addressing government capacity disparities, aligning policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks, kick-starting projects with public funding, leveraging IFI support, and exploring private sector financing options.
The panel spotlighted examples of transformational cross-border projects that they have been working on to promote trade, poverty reduction, and reduce carbon emissions to fight climate change.
Chairman Rahimzoda introduced the Rogun hydropower project in Tajikistan, Deputy Finance Minister Souvannachoumkham discussed the East-West Corridor and Lao PDR-China railway and highway in Lao PDR, and Mr. Hannoura explained the dry ports projects and the proposed 1,000-kilometer undersea energy cable that Egypt is developing to help export low-cost clean energy to Greece and other parts of Europe.
The panelists went on to address the critical role IFIs can play throughout the project cycle. This includes preparatory work to apply IFI standards and good practices to better manage risks and ensure bankability, provide concessional finance and de-risking tools to attract private capital, and introduce institutional tools and capacity development to boost project sustainability.
Vice President Ferro described how the World Bank’s International Development Association Regional Window is helping to incentivize cross-border projects. Executive Vice President Leoncini mentioned a number of tools that CAF, chair of the MCDF Coordination Committee, offers to address issues such as border management and regional logistics. He also praised MCDF’s grant support for the preparation of 13 high-quality connectivity projects being implemented by CAF in Latin America and the Caribbean based on IFI standards and good practices, including airports, railways, and digital infrastructure.
NOTE: Above news release photo of (left to right) Mr. Zhongjing Wang, CEO, Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF), Mr. Jang Ping Thia, Lead Economist and Manager, Economics Department, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Mr. Sulton Rahimzoda, Chairman, State Commission on Investments and State Property Management, Tajikistan, Ms. Manuela Ferro, Vice President, East Asia and Pacific, World Bank, Mr. Atter Hannoura, Director, Central Public-Private Partnership Unit, Ministry of Finance, Egypt, Mr. Soulivath Souvannachoumkham, Deputy Finance Minister, Lao PDR, Mr. Gianpiero Leoncini, Executive Vice President, Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Juzhong Zhuang, Lead Author, Catalyzing Connectivity in Southeast Asia, and Senior Adviser, MCDF, Dr. Murtaza Syed, Head of Ecosystem, Economics Department, AIIB, Mr. Xianbin Yao, Lead Author, Bridging Central and West Asia and the World and Senior Adviser, MCDF
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