00:00Next, 3.3 billion people live in countries where they pay more on debt interest than on health or education.
00:08A UN event is taking place in Spain, seeking to redress that imbalance.
00:12The Conference on Financing for Development does exactly what it says.
00:16And after this report, we'll be talking to one of the people who decides how the cash is spent and where it goes.
00:22First, this is from Vedika Pahel.
00:23Posing for a family photo, scores of world leaders from around the globe kicked off the once-in-a-decade United Nations Conference,
00:33aimed at drumming up trillions of dollars to close the gap between rich and poor nations.
00:38But this year, the most significant player is missing.
00:41The U.S., formerly the largest donor, snubbed the event, following Donald Trump's decision to slash foreign aid.
00:48Now raising money is a challenge that the Secretary-General recognizes.
00:51We live in a world where trust is crumbling and multilateralism is under strain.
00:58A world with a slowing economy, growing trade tensions and decimated aid budgets.
01:04Financing is the engine of development.
01:06And right now, that engine is choking.
01:10The UN believes two-thirds of its 2030 Sustainable Development Goals are lagging
01:15and a whopping $4 trillion is needed to achieve them.
01:19Trump's gutting of the U.S. development agency USAID in January
01:24means $40 billion less towards the world's poorest nations,
01:28which the World Bank says is hitting sub-Saharan Africa the hardest,
01:32particularly in Sudan, where funding shortages threaten relief for millions.
01:37It also means children are going unvaccinated,
01:39girls are abandoning education and families facing hunger.
01:42The French president called for things to change.
01:45It is essential to develop value chains and create economic wealth in the poorest countries,
01:54developing countries and middle-income countries.
01:57And wherever we can, this is the best policy for combating inequality.
02:01But despite Macron's words, France, as well as Germany and the UK,
02:08are countries also making cuts to foreign aid,
02:11choosing to prioritise defence spending amidst high geopolitical tensions
02:15and strain on their own national budgets.
02:17The fourth international conference on financing and development
02:24then taking place in Seville in Spain from now until Thursday.
02:28Joining us tonight, this is Rodrigo Salvaldo.
02:29Rodrigo is Director General of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,
02:34or AIIB, a multilateral development bank and international institution
02:38that aims to improve economic and social outcomes.
02:42Rodrigo, thank you very much for being with us.
02:43I hope you're coping with the 40-degree heat in Seville.
02:46It's affecting all of us across Europe, and you're smiling, so that's a very good sign.
02:51Outcomes, that's the word that sticks out for me.
02:53It's not just about results or the bottom line, it's about outcomes.
02:56Tell us what you mean by that.
02:58Well, what we mean, thank you, Mark, for having me today.
03:01What we mean is, again, as you were saying before,
03:04this is a conference that is happening every 10 years,
03:07where everyone, right, like private sector, philanthropies,
03:11public sector institutions are coming to actually do that.
03:13Outcomes mean that actually people have better lives, right?
03:17That means better education.
03:18That means better access to basic services.
03:20That means the opportunity to actually get a better job.
03:24That's what it means.
03:25What we, success here is going to be measured by whether after this conference
03:30we have a set of solutions that actually mean that people are going to improve their lives.
03:34And this has to be, happen in developing countries as more than ever, right?
03:38That you were saying before, multilateralism is really, and right now, is under threat, right?
03:44There's a lot of geopolitical consideration happening.
03:46So we are here to actually come together and demonstrate that by actually coming together
03:51with solutions, we can be pulling more of our weight
03:54and be more than the sum of our parts.
03:57It's setting out to help people.
03:58This sounds fantastic, Rodrigo.
04:00Tell us about the projects that you've financed.
04:03I know of one in Gujarat and one in Abidjan, but tell us about those.
04:08Well, those are projects, again, and these are things that actually improve people's lives.
04:12When we are talking about, like, $200 million that the bank invests in Cote d'Ivoire
04:17to connect people to markets, right?
04:19Rural people and rural populations that they need to take their products to the market.
04:23That makes, like, actually improve their lives by going to the market
04:26and getting their products actually sold.
04:29They are also connecting to the ports that can actually have exports not only to Asia,
04:34but to other parts, to Europe, et cetera, et cetera.
04:36That thing's actually, again, it's not only about infrastructure.
04:40It's actually about economic opportunity.
04:42The other things that we do is that we improve people's health, right?
04:45We partner with the World Bank, with the Asian American Bank, and the Pandemic Fund to have
04:50a $400 million project in Indonesia, for example, to actually have, like, One Health, which is
04:56bringing animal health and human health together in order to prevent effects for a new pandemic.
05:02These things actually matter, right?
05:04And water and sanitation, for example, Mark, water and sanitation is amazing.
05:08The amount of people that doesn't live with water on access to clean water in Africa.
05:14I'll tell you another thing.
05:15Like, in early this year, we have, like, launched an initiative together with the African London Bank
05:20and the World Bank called N300.
05:22N300 means about bringing electricity to 300 million people in Africa.
05:27And you will say that even if we're actually successful in getting the 300 million,
05:31we still have another 300 million to go.
05:33Because today, right now, as you and me speak, there are 600 million in Africa that don't have
05:38access to electricity.
05:40And we all know that without access to electricity, there are many things that don't happen.
05:43So these are the things that matter.
05:45And there's no way we are going to do this alone.
05:47Even with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, we are very, like, a large bank.
05:51We have $100 billion in our capital.
05:53I can assure you that's a drop in the ocean compared to what we need to do.
05:57Indeed.
05:57As you say, much needs to be done, but much has been done.
06:00And one needs to acknowledge that as well.
06:02I'm wondering, Rodrigo, how do you choose the projects?
06:05Is there a political angle there?
06:07Is there pressure from governments?
06:09Or do you really hold yourself away from that?
06:13We are a political institution, Mark.
06:15We are a client-driven institution.
06:17And this conference, in fact, is about that.
06:20It's about putting countries in the driver's seat.
06:22That was something that came out in a least 10 years ago, but really, really, it was not happening.
06:28So this is actually doing that.
06:29We, again, we always said that what are the priorities of AIB?
06:32The priorities of AIB within infrastructure are the priorities of our clients.
06:36We don't go to tell clients what to do.
06:38We're always helping to think through that.
06:40But the countries are very well known.
06:41They really are really clear on what they need and what they want and their priorities.
06:45So our work is really supporting them.
06:48So when we talk about, like, for example, the African-American Bank, in Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in some countries, that actually is digital infrastructure.
06:55In some countries, that is actually building airports and ports.
06:58In some countries, that actually is building healthcare infrastructure.
07:02So we don't go and impose that.
07:04And to your question, no, we don't.
07:06We don't actually further the pressure.
07:07We are a bank that has 110 members, Mark.
07:11And all our projects are actually chosen and vetted and approved by all those members together.
07:18So you can imagine that, you know, in that case, it's a really, really multilateral setup, right, where only the best projects actually go to do.
07:26But, again, going back to this is we are here to support countries do what they want to do, obviously, with the highest standards, right, because one of the things of multilateral banks, like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, is actually hold to our standards.
07:41Standards of procurement, standards of quality.
07:43If you want to build a road, we want that road to actually stay.
07:46You were saying about heat.
07:48Well, we need to actually have infrastructure that is climate resilient.
07:52We need to have infrastructure that hold to actually the threats of climate.
07:55So all those things we do.
07:57But, again, when it comes to priorities, we know that governments in many countries, they know what to do and we are there to support them.
08:02Rodrigo, is the fact that the U.S. has pulled out of this structure, is that going to make it less efficient?
08:09Are you going to be able to, are you going to be preventive from reaching the people you need to reach, you want to reach?
08:14Is the absence of the U.S. going to be a big problem?
08:17Look, Mark, every country has the right to join or not these things, right?
08:21What we can tell you, and I can tell you what I have seen here, is a lot of people coming together, a lot of countries coming together and showing up for multilateralism.
08:30And I'm going to tell you that that's not an issue in terms of, like, yes, obviously there is a lot of U.S. money that is very relevant.
08:36But we are all doing our best to actually make sure that we are making up for that.
08:41How do you do that?
08:42Stretching every single dollar that we have.
08:45This is the job of our multilateral development banks, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
08:49We stretch every dollar that we get in order to actually do ourselves.
08:52So if you ask me today, yes, that's an issue.
08:55But I'm really, really optimistic that we can actually come out of this even stronger.
08:59And, again, this, in many ways, is pushing us further to think how to stretch every single dollar.
09:05Again, they always say we need to do more with less, no matter what happens, no matter whether, you know, the largest donors or the other larger donors are here with us.
09:14We need to keep thinking about that, no matter what.
09:16And I can tell you, Mark, this is why we are all together here in Sevilla.
09:21Rodrigo Salvador, thank you very much indeed for showing your clear passion for these projects.
09:26And obviously the way this is affecting people all over the world.
09:29Thank you so much indeed.
09:31Stay safe.
09:31Keep hydrated in that 40 degree heat in Sevilla.
09:34We want you to be able to perform sparkling on stage there at the 4th International Conference on Financing and Development,
09:41taking place there in Sevilla, in Spain, as Rodrigo was saying.
09:44That's Rodrigo Salvador, who is Director General of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
09:49Great projects changing people's lives.
09:52Thank you, Rodrigo, for telling us all about it.
