The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement or AFD) have signed a strategic Co-Financing Framework Agreement at AIIB's headquarters. It aims to deepen their collaboration in furtherance of common development objectives, promote sustainable development and advance climate-resilient infrastructure projects globally.

AIIB and AFD have agreed to cofinance agreements under a framework to simplify procedures and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their development cooperation. The agreement is the first of its kind between the AFD and a multilateral development bank (MDB) and sets forth a mutual reliance framework that allows both institutions to leverage their comparative advantages in specific sectors or countries.

Over the past years, AIIB and AFD have collaborated on several projects in Egypt, India and Türkiye, primarily through parallel co-financing led by an MDB. Both institutions are committed to delivering impactful solutions to the pressing global challenges of climate change and sustainable development. The two organizations aim to combine their strengths and work together more effectively in project preparation and monitoring, improving the speed and efficacy in responding to client's needs.

“This partnership with AFD reinforces AIIB's commitment to ensuring multilateral and public development banks work better together to leverage our respective strengths,” said Jin Liqun, AIIB President and Chair of the Board. “Together, we can more effectively deliver the innovative financing solutions and catalyze investments that create long-term value for millions of people for a better tomorrow.”

Rémy Rioux, Chairman of Agence Française de Développement, said: “Our first cofinancing framework agreement paves the way for an impactful collaboration between the two public development banks (PDBs) in support of climate, nature and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This framework sets also a standard for public development banks. They demonstrate their ability to respond to the G20’s recommendations for a more coherent, collaborative and open financial architecture. This is a shared objective with the global coalition of PDBs, which will gather in Cape Town on 26-28 February 2025 for the Finance in Common Summit with AIIB as co-partner.”

The agreement paves the way for deeper collaboration, enabling AIIB and AFD to play a pivotal role in advancing innovative solutions, mobilizing critical investments and making a meaningful contribution to global efforts toward a greener future.

The announcement builds on the longstanding and strong partnership between AIIB and AFD, including their Memorandum of Understanding signed in June 2023, which outlines scope of cooperations across areas of common interests; as well as their joint collaboration in the upcoming Fifth Finance in Common (FiCS) Summit.