Kathmandu, September 30
Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle returned home today after attending the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
He returned to Kathmandu on a Qatar Airways flight at 8:45 am today. The visit proved productive for expanding the bank’s investment in Nepal’s key infrastructure development, technology transfer and further cooperation among member countries.
He had left for Doha, Qatar, on September 26 to attend the meeting. The annual meeting elected Wagle, in his capacity as finance minister and AIIB governor for Nepal, as vice-chairperson of the Board of Governors for 2026-27.
Nepal was elected vice-chairperson from among the bank’s regional member states. During a governors’ business roundtable at the meeting, Wagle said capital formation through infrastructure is a key source of economic growth for less-developed countries, and stressed the need to invest in key means of production such as roads, electricity, communications and information technology.
He also shared views on ways to make the bank’s lending as concessional as possible to match the needs of countries like Nepal, and on making finance available in ways that attract domestic and foreign private capital. During the meeting, he held discussions with the AIIB president and with the finance ministers of member states including Qatar, India, Bangladesh, Armenia and Georgia, on bilateral interests, economic cooperation, expanding investment, and support for Nepal’s reconstruction after the natural disaster it has faced.
With Nepal elected vice-chairperson of the AIIB for the first time, there is hope this will further pave the way for expanded bank investment, technology transfer and cooperation in the country’s key infrastructure development.
