By Aaron Saldanha

(Reuters] – The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will continue funding developing countries with COVID-19 vaccines. This was a statement by a senior executive on Thursday.

AIIB established a financing facility last year in order to assist the public and private sectors fighting the pandemic. Up to Nov. 5, the bank approved 42 projects worth more than $10.3 billion.

Its Crisis Recovery Facility has up to $13 billion allocated to support AIIB members and clients in withstanding economic and health impacts of the health crisis.

Danny Alexander (Vice President, Policy and Strategy, AIIB) spoke to Reuters on the sidelines COP26 in Glasgow. He said that vaccine finance has a huge impact on development.

Alexander explained that “until you get the pandemic under control then all of these other things (environmental financing) can’t be achieved.”

Last month, the bank said https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/aiib-fully-align-with-paris-agreement-climate-goals-by-mid-2023-2021-10-26 it planned to fully align its operations with the Paris Agreement climate goals by July 1, 2023.

According to the bank, it anticipates that it will approve $50 billion for climate finance projects by 2030. This is a fourfold increase in climate finance commitments annually since its public reporting began in 2019.

Alexander explained that Alexander’s investment bank wants to stimulate private investments into its green projects via equity. This includes providing financial guarantees for equity investments as well as syndicating loans.