Prospects of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) to catalyse infrastructure financing

Abstract

Initiated in 2017 and formally established in 2020, the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) is the latest addition to the development finance landscape in Asia. This article provides an in‐depth analysis of MCDFʼs potential to offer additionality in development finance and its political legitimacy by comparing it to 18 development finance and capacity‐building organisations. The article finds that while the MCDF contributes to closing the substantial infrastructure financing gap in Asia, it risks overlapping with existing initiatives to such a degree that it may become an inefficient use of resources while lacking legitimacy as a multilateral organisation due to its unclear relationship with Chinaʼs Belt and Road Initiative. From this outset, and given the climate mandates of its multilateral development bank members, this article finds that if the MCDF focuses specifically on green and climate finance, it could carve out an area where it can become a much‐needed new platform for project development and coordination.

New OTC Derivative Instrument for BRI Grand Strategy Integration: Case of ‘China, Mongolia and Russia’

“…China will promote systematic integration between traditional financial forms and new financial forms, and then integrate traditional industries, such as traditional finance and digital finance, into the overall planning of the Belt and Road financial system, and provide strong institutional support to deepen cooperation between financial and insurance industries . We fully agree with the authors' opinion that the creation of emerging financial forms is necessary for the successful implementation of the BRI, which is also in line with the BRI project policy on national financing and financial cooperation and will be a catalyst for private sector financing (Nedopil et al 2022). Under the emerging financial form, we predict an opinion of Loots et al (2022), which suggests the emergence of a new funding paradigm that moves away from a clear demarcation between public and private in terms of interests and financing modes and emerges new forms of financial assets for non-direct investments (Loots et al 2022).…”