The Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank held its Annual Meeting virtually on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. The meetings discussed a number of topics, including the progress made on Bank's priorities since last year.
Also, the meetings included two roundtable discussions, during which members exchanged views on "Financing Infrastructure Projects in a World Prone to Crisis" and "Supporting Energy Access and the Transition to Net Zero Emissions".
In his intervention, the Assistant Minister of Finance for Macro-Fiscal Policies and International Affairs, Abdulmuhsen Alkhalaf, commended the bank's rapid response to emerging and overlapping crises, calling on it to make access to energy and food security among the Bank's priorities going forward.
Mr. Alkhalaf noted that there are around 770 million people worldwide still living without access to electricity. This will require connecting nearly 100 million people each year to achieve full access by 2030. He added that in order to support the SDG7 related to ensuring access to sustainable, reliable, modern and affordable energy sources that are available to all, the Bank should ensure inclusive flows of investment in the energy sector, and must adopt a balanced approach considering energy security, promoting economic growth and addressing climate change, including through the use of modern technologies to address hydrocarbon emissions, emphasizing the importance of promoting circular approaches, particularly the framework of the circular carbon economy.
It is noteworthy that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a multilateral development finance institution based in the Chinese capital, Beijing. It was established in 2016, and aims to promote economic development and improve the interconnectedness of infrastructure in the continent of Asia and beyond by investing in infrastructure and other productive sectors, in addition to promoting regional cooperation and partnership in addressing development challenges by working in close cooperation with other bilateral and multilateral development institutions. Meetings of the Bank's Board of Governors are held annually.