Civil Society Engagement and Issues of Concern Regarding Meaningful Participation in the AIIB Annual Meeting 2024, Uzbekistan

Civil society organisations have written to AIIB President Jin Liqun to express concern over the bank's limited engagement with external stakeholders. The group argues that the AIIB's current internal focus overemphasizes project benefits and underplays risks. They propose several critical discussion topics for the 2024 Annual Meeting, including the bank's fossil fuel divestment, Paris Agreement alignment, and the development of a Gender Action Plan. The letter also highlights logistical barriers for participants in Uzbekistan, including visa difficulties and the risks associated with the country's closed civic space.

• The AIIB's current stakeholder engagement is overly internal, relying on technical consultants, government agencies, and the private sector, which the authors claim "often overemphasizes project benefits and underplays associated risks."
• Civil society organisations identify several urgent policy gaps at the AIIB, including a lack of transparency regarding climate finance, continued investment in fossil fuels despite Paris Agreement goals, and a Gender Action Plan that has been "withheld from consultation with civil society."
• The authors argue that the AIIB's Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) is poorly supported by staff, stating that having only a few HQ-based staff members is "grossly insufficient" to manage the complex realities of project impacts.
• The 2024 Annual Meeting in Uzbekistan presents specific risks and barriers for civil society, including a "closed civic space" requiring security protocols and significant hurdles for participants in acquiring visas from the government.

APA

Race, M. (2024). Civil Society Engagement and Issues of Concern Regarding Meaningful Participation in the AIIB Annual Meeting 2024, Uzbekistan. Recourse. https://re-course.org/newsupdates/aiib-annual-meeting-2024-letter/

Chicago

Race, Madeleine. Civil Society Engagement and Issues of Concern Regarding Meaningful Participation in the AIIB Annual Meeting 2024, Uzbekistan. Recourse, 2024. https://re-course.org/newsupdates/aiib-annual-meeting-2024-letter/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Race |first1=Madeleine |title=Civil Society Engagement and Issues of Concern Regarding Meaningful Participation in the AIIB Annual Meeting 2024, Uzbekistan |publisher=Recourse |date=11 September 2024 |url=https://re-course.org/newsupdates/aiib-annual-meeting-2024-letter/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{race2024civil, author = {Race, Madeleine}, title = {{Civil Society Engagement and Issues of Concern Regarding Meaningful Participation in the AIIB Annual Meeting 2024, Uzbekistan}}, publisher = {Recourse}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://re-course.org/newsupdates/aiib-annual-meeting-2024-letter/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }