The fifth Finance in Common Summit (FiCS 2025) took place from Wednesday to Friday in Cape Town, South Africa, bringing together public development banks from around the world to explore ways to better invest in infrastructure for sustainable development.
Co-hosted by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), and the French Development Agency (AFD), this year's FiCS was themed "Fostering Infrastructure and Finance for Just and Sustainable Growth."
Held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the three-day event attracted over 2,500 delegates, including representatives from public development banks, governments, and financial institutions from across the globe.
Throughout the summit, participants engaged in discussions on key topics such as digital transformation and inclusive finance. AIIB President Jin Liqun emphasized the importance of multilateral cooperation in addressing global challenges and highlighted the bank's commitment to promoting multilateralism through concrete and fruitful actions.
"We must push for regional and global cooperation, especially in an era where there is a rising tide of anti-globalization and a tendency toward independent action. We must counter this sentiment and ensure that everyone understands that the best development results come from working together," said Jin.
A highlight of the gathering was the release of AIIB's 2025 Asian Infrastructure Financing Report, which expounded on the crucial links between infrastructure development and the health of the planet. The report stressed the importance of sustainable infrastructure in combating climate change, preserving biodiversity, and improving public health, calling for increased investment in these vital sectors by public development banks.
The summit also witnessed the signing of several collaboration agreements aimed at boosting global cooperation in areas such as the digital economy, sustainable development, and climate change.
"We accelerate our collective national and international capacity to face climate change, but other issues, biodiversity as well, inequality, green growth, pandemics, and that's what we are discussing," said AFD Director General Remy Rioux.
African infrastructure development has taken the center stage. Experts noted that the continent needs massive investment to help build roads, expand energy access, and modernize water systems, as well as financing to address climate resilience and support the transition to the digital economy.
Reports continue to highlight the scale of Africa's development needs. The African Development Bank estimates that at least 130 billion dollars is needed annually to build essential infrastructure.
South Africa alone requires an estimated 500 billion dollars to upgrade its infrastructure over the next decade.
"We are not closing the gap. Here in South Africa, we've done an assessment of the infrastructure needs by 2020 to close the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) gaps. In just the four network sectors, energy, transport, ICT (information and communications technology) and water, the gap that we have identified is 10 trillion rands," said Zeph Nhleko, Chief Economist at the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Although the United Nations' SDGs have been in place for over a decade, progress in Africa has been slow. FiCS participants agreed that urgent action is needed to address Africa's infrastructure needs, as well as the challenges of poverty and inequality.
"We are working very closely with the governments to understand their needs, to understand their capabilities. We are not looking at the next three years. We are looking at the next 20. We are looking at the next 40. That's the right way of avoiding the issues that are coming down the line," said Rodrigo Salvado, Director General of the Operational Partnership Department at AIIB, which administers the bank's Special Funds resources.
During the summit, development banks reaffirmed their commitment to tackling inequality, climate change, and biodiversity loss in Africa, while driving the continent towards realizing the SDGs.
Sustainable infrastructure development highlighted at Finance in Common Summit
