Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) President Zou Jiayi visited New York City and Washington, D.C., April 11-17, engaging members, global private-sector leaders and development partners as part of her listening tour. It was President Zou’s first outreach beyond Asia since assuming office in January. The discussions provided insights on how AIIB can best respond to evolving development needs and scale up development impact with innovation and integrity in an increasingly uncertain global environment.
“AIIB’s impact is measured by the difference we make in achieving sustainable economic development – which means better lives for the people across the region,” Zou said. “Scaling up development impact means scaling up our financing with high-quality work and delivering results on the ground.”
Across engagements, one common theme was that there is strong demand for infrastructure investment, even as global capital becomes increasingly selective. Stakeholders emphasized the need for diverse solutions to address pressing development challenges as well as faster and better coordinated responses from multilateral development banks (MDBs) without compromising standards.
In New York, Zou met with senior executives from financial institutions and infrastructure investors to exchange views on infrastructure market conditions, mobilizing private capital, managing and sharing risks, and expanding investment in key areas such as the energy transition, digital connectivity and logistics. The discussions highlighted the need for greater speed, clarity and repeatability in project development, as well as closer working-level collaborations to identify opportunities earlier in the project cycle. Engagements with credit rating agencies highlighted the importance of transparency and disciplined risk management as MDBs scale up operations.
In Washington, D.C., Zou participated in the 2026 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, where she continued discussions with AIIB members, partners and other stakeholders. Engagements with MDB peers at the policy level focused on strengthening partnerships to address shared challenges and coordinated responses across the multilateral system, including under the G20 Roadmap, to better align financing with members’ development priorities.
It was also an opportunity for Zou to meet many of AIIB’s nonregional members, who called for a more systematic approach to infrastructure development through stronger upstream engagement, faster project preparation and implementation, and expanded use of innovative financial instruments, enhanced risk-mitigation tools and local-currency solutions.
Zou reaffirmed AIIB’s commitment to responding to these priorities by strengthening client engagement, scaling up support across the project cycle and continuing to innovate its financing approaches, such as through guarantees, risk sharing and local currency options. She emphasized the need to support members to address climate change, create a business environment that catalyzes downstream private investment, and advance their efforts to build resiliency during the current uncertain environment, especially in the context of the evolving situation in the Middle East.
Through her engagements in New York and Washington, Zou reinforced the message that AIIB’s future direction will be shaped by member and client needs. Delivering meaningful outcomes requires staying focused on results: turning infrastructure needs into bankable solutions, mobilizing capital at scale and improving people’s lives.
Correction: An earlier version of the photo collage incorrectly identified OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa as Egypt’s Minister of Finance and AIIB Governor Ahmed Kouchouk. The collage has since been updated with the correct photo of Governor Kouchouk.
