AIIB president calls for ‘fundamental reforms’ to global institutions

Head of Beijing-based multilateral development bank says current global governance structure fails to incorporate emerging economies

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Jin Liqun, president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, says current global governance structures are insufficient to represent the needs of emerging economies. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00pm, 24 Jan 2025

Global institutions lack binding authority and sufficient representation for emerging economies in their present state, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) president Jin Liqun said, emphasizing systemic changes are necessary to create a more inclusive framework.

“It is high time we try our best to fix global governance problems,” said Jin, who served as a vice-minister of finance in China's government from 1998 to 2003.

“Fundamental reforms will have to be undertaken.”

Jin, who has led the Beijing-based multilateral development bank since its founding, shared his reflections on over a decade of experience in global governance at the Fullerton Forum. The forum was held this month by the University of Hong Kong’s Centre on Contemporary China and the World.

“The most austere risk is undoubtedly the lack of governance, that is, fully functioning global governance,” Jin said. He criticised the dysfunction of international organisations that, in his view, “do not work satisfactorily, as they are expected to.”

He attributed the problem to outdated structures, noting that many institutions were established under the auspices of the world's most advanced economies at the time of their founding, leaving developing countries without a voice in political and economic affairs.

“Most of the international institutions, such as the UN, the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization ... were set up under rules made by the major partners at a time when the minor ones, the backbenchers, had no roles to play,” he said.