Site Selection: Modern Finance

Highway in Shanghai, China

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank set up by China in 2015. It currently has 105 members, with at least one state participating in the organization from each continent. Headquartered in Beijing, the AIIB aims to “enable clients to build green infrastructure with sustainability, innovation and connectivity” by providing financial loans to infrastructure projects carried out in various countries. It has been a Permanent Observer of the United Nations Generally Assembly and Economic and Social Council since 2018.

We chose the AIIB as one of our locations because it is a newly established multilateral financial institution as a complement to the IMF and the World Bank. One of the key tenets of the AIIB is to support green infrastructure and promote regional cooperation in the developing world. It provides a solution to developing countries that urgently entail carrying out more infrastructural projects to lay solid foundations for more sustainable development. In addition to meeting local needs, the AIIB aims to support the connectivity of the Eurasian continent and, more broadly, global infrastructural integrations. The functions of the AIIB align with our theme: financing for a sustainable future.