Unprecedented Collaboration among Development Partners to Improve Infrastructure Implementation

The inaugural Global Infrastructure Forum 2016 brings together for the first time the leaders of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) -- African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank Group, Islamic Development Bank, New Development Bank, and the World Bank Group – as well as development partners and representatives of the G20, G24, and G77, to enhance multilateral collaborative mechanisms to improve infrastructure delivery globally. The Forum is organized in close partnership with the United Nations.

Infrastructure plays a critical role in growth, competitiveness, job creation, and poverty alleviation. Yet increasing access to basic infrastructure services remains a critical challenge in developing countries. Sixty percent of the world’s population lacks Internet access, while 1.2 billion people in the world still live without electricity. At least one-third of the world’s rural people are not served by an all-weather road. Addressing the infrastructure gap requires a boost in investment including better leveraging of private investment, but also better governance, capacities, and improving efficiency to get more from existing spending on infrastructure.