Our Partners
Listen to the article
The Asia and Pacific region has made great strides over the years, with partners playing an important role in achieving progress. However, the challenges of poverty, food insecurity, local and global conflicts, disasters, inequality, and climate change remain pressing issues for the region. Stronger partnerships are essential to deliver the necessary support to ADB’s developing member countries.
ADB partners with international development agencies, nongovernment or civil society organizations, philanthropies, bilateral and multilateral institutions, the private sector, and other emerging development partners. These financing partners provide cofinancing through contributions to projects and trust funds.
This section highlights the financing partners with active sovereign cofinanced projects and technical assistance and those with contributions committed to trust funds in 2023.
Bilateral Partners
ADB works with a wide range of bilateral partners—government organizations that give direct assistance to a recipient country for development purposes—within and outside the Asia and Pacific region.
Multilateral Partners
ADB partners with organizations or institutions established or chartered by more than one country to provide financial support and professional advice for economic and social development activities in developing countries. These include the Global Funding Initiatives where the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development acts as the trustee.
Global funds leverage public or private resources to support international initiatives, enabling partners to provide a direct and coordinated response to global priorities. ADB assists developing members in gaining access to its financing.
- ASEAN Infrastructure Fund
- Asia Investment Facility
- Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
- Climate Investment Funds
- Eurasian Development Bank
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- European Investment Bank
- European Union
- Global Agriculture and Food Security Program
- Global Environment Facility
- Global Partnership for Education Fund
- Global Road Safety Facility
- Green Climate Fund
- International Financing Facility for Education New
- Islamic Development Bank
- Neighbourhood Investment Facility
- New Development Bank
- Nordic Development Fund
- OPEC Fund for International Development
- Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Trust Fund New
- United Nations
- Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative
- World Bank Group
Other Partners
ADB works with other partners through concessional or commercial cofinancing, including partners from the private sector with corporate social responsibility and philanthropic thrusts.
Partners keen on a strategic, long-term collaboration may agree with ADB on a framework that guides cofinancing and joint initiatives for a specific period. In such cases, ADB and the financing partner sign a partnership financing arrangement (PFA) to formalize and define the partnership in broad terms. The PFAs—also expressed as framework cofinancing arrangements, memoranda of understanding, and similar terms—facilitate better strategic collaboration, cooperation, and complementarity.
ADB currently has 11 active PFAs, of which 5 were signed in 2023. These new agreements will promote collaboration and cofinancing on climate change, renewable energy, urban development, and pandemic preparedness, to name a few.
In 2023, ADB worked with 15 bilateral partners, 12 multilateral partners and global funds, and numerous private sector and other partners on 124 sovereign and 48 nonsovereign projects, programs, and technical assistance (TA). It also administered 48 trust funds, including 8 newly established ones, to support climate action, environmental resilience, clean energy, the private sector, and education. Trust funds enable partners to contribute and channel grants to specific countries or development themes.
Zooming in on sovereign cofinancing, commitments from bilateral partners accounted for 33% of sovereign cofinancing in 2023, reaching $3.1 billion and supporting 34 projects and TA. The share of multilateral partners and global funds was 64%, totaling $6.1 billion for 31 projects and TA. Other partners account for 2% of the total, with $152 million for three projects and TA. The remaining 1% of sovereign cofinancing was coursed through trust funds.
Of the $219.4 million grant cofinancing for 25 projects, 49% or $108 million came from bilateral partners. Of the $9.2 billion loan cofinancing for 28 projects, 66% or $6.1 billion came from multilateral partners and global funds. Of the $100 million grant cofinancing for 76 TA, 73% or $73 million came from trust funds.