Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman leads delegation to AIIB annual meeting in Qatar for key infrastructure talks

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is leading a delegation of officials to Qatar to attend the two-day annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) starting Monday and to hold bilateral meetings with her counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Switzerland, Algeria, and Nepal.

During her visit, she will attend the 11th annual meeting of board of governors of AIIB, where she will attend as the Indian Governor to the AIIB. India is the second-largest shareholder of the bank after China, followed by Russia.

Sitharaman will also hold a bilateral meeting with AIIB president Zou Jiayi. The annual meeting is being held in Doha, Qatar with the theme “Tomorrow’s Infrastructure: Impact and Innovation,” and it marks AIIB’s transition into its second decade, highlighting its continued focus on scaling up investment in sustainable infrastructure across members.

“As part of the official visit, the Union Finance Minister is expected to call-on the leadership of the Government of Qatar and also engage with Qatari business leaders and investors,” a finance ministry statement said on Sunday after the minister’s departure.

The annual event is expected to see deliberation on several key issues, including climate finance, digital public infrastructure (DPI), private capital in infrastructure creation, according to the programme list.

As a multilateral development bank, AIIB focuses on developing sustainable infrastructure in Asia and promoting investments in infrastructure and other productive sectors to foster sustainable economic development, create wealth and improve infrastructure connectivity.

According to its website, AIIB, which was set up in 2016, has approved 388 projects and has so far invested $76.91 billion in these projects. Headquartered in Beijing, China, AIIB has 111 members.