MCDF CEO Participates in New Development Bank Annual Meeting Seminar on Financing Innovation

Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) CEO Zhongjing Wang participated in a seminar panel on multilateral development banks’ (MDBs) role in financing innovation at the 11th Annual Meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) held in Moscow on 14-15 May. At the NDB Annual Meeting, he also met with NDB’s senior management, including President Dilma Rousseff, and NDB member country officials.

CEO Wang thanked NDB officials for NDB’s active participation in MCDF information-sharing activities for promoting high-quality connectivity infrastructure investment as an International Financial Institution (IFI) member of the MCDF Coordination Committee. This includes cohosting the Environment and Social Community of Practice Seminar on Country Systems in Practice in Beijing in October 2025, with MCDF and 6 other IFI partners. CEO Wang was updated on the status of NDB’s accreditation as a Green Climate Fund Technical Partner and said he looks forward to strengthening MCDF cooperation with NDB.

At the NDB Annual Meeting seminar on MDB financing of innovation on 14 May, CEO Wang was joined by Ms. Maria Prozorova, Managing Director – First Deputy Head of Project Block at the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), Dr. Sami Al Suwailem, Acting Director General at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Ms. Ndèye Absa Gningue, Senior Innovation Platform Officer at the African Development Bank (AfDB), Institute of Economic Growth President Mr. Nand Kishore Singh, and Dr. Xu Jiajun of Peking University. The panel was moderated by Mr. Evgeny Vinokurov, EDB’s Vice Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Economist.

CEO Wang said that innovation and the benefits it can provide developing countries hinge on solid project design and sound implementation, which is often lacking and why up to 80% of projects fail. He noted that MCDF’s USD88 million in grants are helping to address this problem by funding feasibility studies, technical and financial analysis, and environmental and social impact assessments implemented by accredited IFI Implementing Partners, such as AfDB, ensuring high-quality project preparation in 88 countries and leveraging over USD13 billion in infrastructure investment.

Innovation also requires strong delivery capacity, CEO Wang said. Rather than financing, senior government officials in developing countries most frequently ask for MCDF support in addressing weak institutional capacity to review project proposals, manage risks, and monitor implementation, he continued. To date, MCDF has provided 11 capacity building grants, with examples including support for an AfDB project to enhance the linkage of port trade information portals to customs systems in East Africa and an IsDB project to build its member countries’ financial system capacity.

Innovation is fundamentally a knowledge product and MCDF’s information and knowledge-sharing activities focus on promoting innovative know-how and good practices in the transport, energy, telecommunications, and transboundary water management sectors, CEO Wang added. He highlighted MCDF and partners’ cohosted workshop series on innovations in renewable energy technology, green and efficient port conference, and digital infrastructure introductory workshop series.

CEO Wang went on to explain that MDB digital infrastructure financing is constrained by the sector’s rapid change which makes it difficult to analyze well and elevates the need for a more risk-prone financing structure based on project approaches and returns. While there is variation in institutional and regulatory setups for data governance and cybersecurity, and no gold standards, MDBs can recommend good practices from around the world, he said.

CEO Wang underscored that a single MDB cannot satisfy digital infrastructure financing demand without partnering with other MDBs or public or private sector financiers, underpinning MCDF’s partnership focus. MCDF’s USD2.6 million grant support for the preparation of a large-scale fiberoptic deployment in Nigeria illustrates the power of this approach, which he said is facilitating USD900 million in potential cofinancing from AfDB, the Africa Finance Corporation, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and World Bank and the possibility of additional significant private sector investment.

Right to left: Mr. Zhongjing Wang, CEO, MCDF, Ms. Maria Prozorova, Managing Director – First Deputy Head, Project Block, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), Mr. Evgeny Vinokurov, Vice Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Economist, EDB