IFAD Vice President Gérardine Mukeshimana Visits Agricultural Development Bank of China

On 14 October 2025, Dr. Gérardine Mukeshimana, Vice President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), met with Du Yankun, Chief Strategist of the Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC), at the Bank’s headquarters in Beijing. Senior officials and key staff from ADBC’s Departments of Rural Revitalization, International Cooperation, Investment and Credit Management, along with representatives from IFAD’s China Country Office, attended the meeting.

Both sides shared overviews of their operations and recent strategic plans and confirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation through the Agri-PDB Platform. The Platform’s strategic position makes it an ideal vehicle to promote green finance among public development banks (PDBs), with ADBC recognized as a leader in this field. 

Dr. Mukeshimana commended ADBC for its strong contribution to national food security and rural revitalization, noting that its experience as China’s agricultural policy bank offers valuable lessons for the global PDB community. She underscored the importance of ADBC’s active participation in the Agri-PDB Platform, which serves as a collaborative space for PDBs to exchange knowledge and jointly scale solutions for food security, poverty reduction, and climate-resilient rural transformation. 

Du Yankun elaborated on ADBC’s unique mandate as China’s agricultural policy bank. ADBC’s strategic priorities — food security, agricultural modernization and specialty farming, integrated rural–urban infrastructure, ecological protection and green finance echo IFAD’s commitment to climate-resilient and inclusive rural development. 

Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in three key areas: 

1. Enhance engagement through the Agri-PDB Platform: sharing case studies and innovations in green finance, agricultural modernization, and rural infrastructure; 
2. Explore country-level loan project collaboration: leveraging complementary strengths to support inclusive and sustainable investments; 
3. Strengthen institutional dialogue: maintaining regular exchanges, capacity-building, and joint visibility activities. 

This dialogue formed part of Dr. Mukeshimana’s official mission to China from 10–17 October 2025. The mission also included high-level meetings with the Ministry of Finance, IFAD member countries and development partners; field visits to IFAD-supported projects in Yunnan; and participation in the World AgriFood Innovation Conference (WAFI). It further advanced partnerships under the new Country Strategic Opportunities Programme (COSOP 2025-2030) and efforts to scale up the China-IFAD South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) Facility.