International Advisory Panel

AIIB has an International Advisory Panel (IAP) that supports the President and Senior Management on the Bank’s strategies, policies and general operational issues. The panel meets at least twice a year (physically or virtually), including one meeting held alongside the Bank’s Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors.

The President selects and appoints IAP members to an initial two-year term renewable upon completion. Panelists are not salaried but receive a small honorarium. AIIB pays the reasonable costs associated with panel meetings. Here is the current list of panelists:

Iwan Azis

Adjunct Professor, Cornell University

Professor Iwan Azis is currently professor of Emerging Markets within the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. His research focuses on the interlink between macro-financial economics, social-institutional issues, and spatial inequalities in emerging markets. Azis headed the Office of Regional Economic Integration of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) from 2010 to 2015 and was also a research advisor to the Indonesian Central Bank and Deposit Insurance Corporation. Before joining ADB, he was the director of Graduate Studies of the Regional Science Program at Cornell University. Prior to this, he was the director of the Inter-University Center for Economics, and chaired the Department of Economics at the University of Indonesia, where he received his professorship in 1995.

Rachel Biderman

Senior Vice President, South America Field Division, Conservation International

Rachel Biderman oversees Conservation International’s work in the South America region, leading strategies and outcomes in six countries and in the Amazon biome. Most of her career has been focused on climate change and forests, helping to support and create networks across environmental and agricultural sectors and connecting Brazil to international policy processes. She has also integrated her interest in gender and women’s empowerment into her programs and initiatives.

Biderman was the Brazil country head for the World Resources Institute. She also led programs to promote corporate sustainability and the implementation of sustainable public policies at the Center for Sustainability Studies at the Business School of Fundação Getulio Vargas. A lawyer by trade, she has also worked in private law firms and as a public interest attorney in several nonprofit organizations. She had also served in São Paulo’s state government (Brazil), where she focused on issues related to air quality, climate change and the protection of ecosystems.

Biderman helped create and was the first executive secretary of the Observatorio do Clima, a network of nongovernment organizations dedicated to climate change in Brazil. She is also a founding member and former co-chair of the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forests and Agriculture, an alliance working in support of a low-carbon economy in Brazil. She is currently co-leading the Pan-Amazonia Network on Bioeconomy. She holds a bachelor's degree in law and a master's degree in environmental sciences from the University of Sao Paulo, an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from the American University, and a PhD in Public Administration from Fundaçao Getulio Vargas in São Paulo. She was a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School in 2009 on Science, Technology and Society.

Ha-Joon Chang

Professor of SOAS University of London

Professor Ha-Joon Chang teaches economics at SOAS University of London. In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, he has authored 17 books (five co-authored) and edited 11 volumes. His books include The Political Economy of Industrial Policy, Kicking Away the Ladder, Bad Samaritans, 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, Economics: The User’s Guide, and Edible Economics. His writings have been translated and published in 45 languages and 46 countries. Worldwide, his books have sold over 2 million copies. He won the Gunnar Myrdal Prize in 2003 and the Wassily Leontief Prize in 2005.

Ahmed Galal

Former Minister of Finance, Egypt

Ahmed Galal chairs the boards of trustees of the Middle East and North Africa Health Policy Forum (MENA HPF) and the Egyptian Foundation for Integrated Development (ALNIDAA) and serves as a member on the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP) and the board of Baseera (Egypt). He was previously a member of the board of directors of the Center for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI, Canada), the International Institute for Environment and Development (iied, London), Zewail City (Egypt) and Beltone Financial Holding (Egypt). He is currently a columnist for Al Masry Al Youm newspaper in Cairo. Until December 2016, he was the managing director of the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and served as Egypt’s Finance minister from July 2013 to March 2014. Prior to that, he spent 18 years at the World Bank, where he conducted research and provided policy advice to governments across various regions. During a leave of absence from the World Bank (2000-2006), he was the executive director and director of research at the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES). He has authored and co-authored numerous publications. In 2004, he received the prestigious regional prize for Economic and Social Sciences from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. He holds a master's degree in economics from the American University in Cairo and a PhD in economics from Boston University.

Yukon Huang

Senior Fellow, Asia Program, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Yukon Huang is a senior fellow in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as the World Bank's country director for China and earlier, as director for Russia and the Central Asian Republics. He is the author of several publications. His research primarily focuses on the Chinese economy and its regional and global impacts. He has made significant contributions to professional journals and major media outlets, including the New York Times, the Financial Times, and the South China Morning Post. He has also served as an advisor to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He holds a PhD in Economics from Princeton University and a BA in Economics from Yale University.

Naoko Ishii

Special Presidential Envoy for Global Commons, University of Tokyo; Professor and Director of the Center for Global Commons

Naoko Ishii is the inaugurating director of the Center for Global Commons after joining the University of Tokyo in 2020. Her career began in 1981 at the Ministry of Finance of Japan, where she focused on international finance and development. She also worked for the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Harvard Institute for International Development. She was the deputy vice minister of Finance of Japan before being elected as the chief executive officer and chairperson of the Global Environment Facility from 2012 to 2020. She currently serves on the Board of the UN Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Planetary Guardians, Emergent, and Global Pandemic Monitoring Board. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Capitals Coalition and EAT Foundation. She is a member of the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, and the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. She is on the Leadership Council for the Global Commons Alliance. She has authored several books, two of which have received academic awards. She holds both a BA in Economics and a PhD in International Studies from the University of Tokyo.

Omobola Johnson

Senior Partner, TLcom Capital LLP; Former Minister of Communication Technology of Nigeria

Dr. Omobola Johnson is Senior Partner of TLcom Capital, a venture capital firm with recent focus on deal flow generation, investment, and value generation in technology companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining TLcom, Omobola was Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015, focusing on the launch and execution of the National Broadband Plan, and support for the Nigerian technology industry, including the pioneering involvement of the government in a local VC fund and a network of start-up incubators. Prior to serving in the Nigerian government, she gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture, including five years as Country Managing Director, working with companies in a variety of industries and transforming them into more competitive and dynamic organizations. Omobola serves on the Board of a number of leading Nigerian and multinational corporations, including MTN Nigeria and Guinness Nigeria plc. She also serves on the Board of the World Wide Web Foundation as the Founding Chairperson and Trustee, Women in Management and Business. Omobola has a Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester; a Master's degree in Digital Electronics from King's College London, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the School of Management of Cranfield University. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumna award from Cranfield University and the Lagos Business School.

Mari Kiviniemi

Former Prime Minister of Finland, Chair of the Board of the University of Vaasa

Mari Kiviniemi is the Chair of the Board of the University of Vaasa and a Member of the Board of Directors of the publicly-listed company Metsä Board. She is also a member of Club de Madrid, an organization of former heads of state and government. She was the 41st Prime Minister of Finland from 2010 to 2011 and served as Deputy Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2014 to 2018. She was Managing Director of the Finnish Federation of Commerce from 2019 to 2025.

Mari previously held various positions in the Finnish government, including Minister of Public Administration and Local Government (2007-2010), Minister for Foreign Trade and Development and Minister for European Affairs (2005-2006). Elected to Parliament at the age of 26, she served as a Member of Parliament from 1995 to 2014, chairing and participating in a vast number of committees. She was a member of the Parliamentary Supervisory Council of the Bank of Finland for several years and chaired it from 2006 to 2007.

In addition to her governance and advisory roles, Mari is a speaker, lecturer and consultant on societal impact, economic policy and public sector reform through her company, MarKiv Oy. She studied economics at the University of Helsinki and holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences.

Rachel Kyte

Special Representative on Climate, UK Government

Rachel Kyte is the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Climate. She is Professor of Practice in Climate Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and dean emerita of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Rachel was previously Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All. She has also served as World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, as well as Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank, and for Business Advisory Services at the International Finance Corporation. Rachel has held non-executive director, trustee and board member roles with a number of private and public financial institutions and non-profit organizations focused on climate and development.

CY Leung

Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Former Chief Executive of Hong Kong, China

CY Leung chairs several nonprofit nongovernment organizations established in Hong Kong, China including the Belt and Road Hong Kong Centre and the GX Foundation. He has been a vice chair of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference since 2017. Before that, Leung served for four terms as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, China. He was part of the Executive Council and held senior positions during its political transformation. A surveyor by profession, Leung had participated in the land and housing reforms in China and helped prepare the first land sale in China in 1988. Leung graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Bristol Polytechnic (now the University of the West of England). He holds honorary doctorate degrees conferred by four universities in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China and Shandong, China.

Nargiz Nasrullayeva

Former President of the American Chamber of Commerce and Former Advisor to CEO of Sovereign Wealth Fund

Nargiz Nasrullayeva has over 20 years of senior management experience in both the private and public sectors. From 2017 to 2024, she was an advisor to the CEO of the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Azerbaijan. Prior to that she served as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan for 11 years, before becoming its President and Chair of the Board from 2022 to 2024. Her experience in commercial real estate includes roles as Centre Manager at Regus Business Centre and COO at Landmark Business Center. Currently, Nargiz advises the CEO of Landmark Business Center and has been a member of the Board of Directors of 100 Business Women of Azerbaijan since 2013. Additionally, she chaired the Board of Azerbaijan Rigs and served on the Management Board of SOCAR Türkiye Aegean Refinery. Nargiz holds a BA in Legal Regulation of Economy from Western University in Baku and an MA in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, along with executive education from Stanford and Harvard Business School.