BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. The Heads of
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) met under the 2025 Chairship
of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) to review progress
on collective actions and define priority areas for future work,
Trend reports.
According to the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), the
meeting highlighted strengthened cooperation among MDBs throughout
2025, building on the momentum created by their 2024 Viewpoint
Note. Participants reaffirmed their commitment to working as a
unified system to achieve greater impact and scale in global
development.
Key achievements since the previous meeting in Paris on 28 June
2025 include a joint report to the G20 on the implementation of the
G20 Roadmap for “Better, Bigger, and More Effective MDBs,”
outlining advances in lending capacity, private capital
mobilization, operational collaboration, and results
measurement.
MDBs also released the first MDB Comparison Report, prepared by
the Global Risk and Finance Forum (GRaFF), to improve transparency
and comparability of financial positions. In addition, GRaFF
published a note summarizing engagement with credit rating agencies
to better communicate MDBs’ robust financial models and asset
quality.
Another milestone was the launch of the inaugural Joint Annual
MDB Water Security Financing Report at the Fourth International
Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Sevilla,
alongside the publication of Social Infrastructure in Focus: The
Role of Multilateral Development Banks, highlighting the collective
contribution of MDBs to investment in health, education, housing,
and water.
Ongoing work includes mobilizing private capital through new
risk-sharing models, expanding financial innovation, and scaling up
initiatives such as Mission 300. The Heads also discussed MDBs’
readiness to support countries ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil,
later this year.
Following the meeting, the Heads exchanged views with IAEA
Director General Rafael Grossi on developments in civil nuclear
energy.
The Chairship of the Heads of MDBs Group will pass from the CEB
to the Asian Development Bank in December 2025. The Heads expressed
appreciation to CEB Governor Carlo Monticelli for his leadership
and commitment during his tenure.
