The Heads of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) Group, chaired in 2025 by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), met today to review progress on joint actions and chart priority areas for the Group’s future work.

Heads noted that their collaborative engagement has deepened throughout 2025, under the CEB’s Chairship of the Group, building successfully on the momentum generated by the MDBs’ Viewpoint Note (https://apo-opa.co/4qieJXu) of 2024.  They welcomed progress made in several areas since their last meeting in Paris on 28 June 2025 and reaffirmed their determination to work as a system for greater impact at scale, communicating annually about progress on their deliverables and priorities.

This progress includes:

• Presentation of a comprehensive and exhaustive joint report to the G20 on the implementation of the G20 Roadmap towards Better, Bigger, and More Effective MDBs (https://apo-opa.co/4om6acd), documenting progress across institutions and at system level and detailing MDBs’ achievements in a  wide range of areas, including increasing lending capacity, leveraging private capital for development, strengthening operational collaboration and measuring results.
• Enhanced transparency and comparability of MDBs’ financial positions through the publication of the first “MDB Comparison Report” (https://apo-opa.co/4qez0x2) prepared by the newly constituted Global Risk and Finance Forum (GRaFF), to multiply the impact of shareholder capital to advance the development agenda;
• Engagement with Credit Rating Agencies to enhance understanding of MDB’s distinctive financial models, risk frameworks and exceptional asset quality as summarized in a note (http://apo-opa.co/3L3QJHn) prepared by GRaFF;
• Publication of the first “Joint Annual MDB Water Security Financing Report” (https://apo-opa.co/4ooPoJB), highlighting MDBs’ contributions and collaboration in this critical sector, which was unveiled at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Sevilla;
• Release of a joint report on “Social Infrastructure in Focus: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks” (https://apo-opa.co/3Wc1GZS), illustrating how MDBs – individually and collectively – support investment in health, education, housing, and water, which play a critical role in increasing productivity, creating jobs, and contributing to resilient societies;

Heads also noted ongoing work in a number of areas including mobilizing additional private capital for development including through disaggregated credit risk statistics published in the Global Emerging Markets Risk Database (GEMs) (https://apo-opa.co/4oqcuzu), coordinating on originate-to-share/distribute models; boosting financial innovations; scaling up flagship regional initiatives such as Mission 300; promoting reliance arrangements; and supporting investments in social infrastructure. In the context of the upcoming COP30, to be held in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, MDBs will be there to support their countries of operations and clients meeting their strategies. After their gathering, Heads held an exchange of views with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, on trends in civil nuclear energy.

The role of the Heads of MDBs Group will be passed in December from the Council of Europe Development Bank to the Asian Development Bank. The Heads of MDBs Group thank CEB’s Governor Carlo Monticelli for his leadership and commitment during his tenure as Chair of the Group.