Welcome Address by Lavan Thiru, Executive Director at Asia Infrastructure Forum 2026
Ministers, Excellencies, Ambassadors, High Commissioners,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
1. Good morning and a very warm welcome to the Asia Infrastructure Forum (AIF) 2026. To our friends from abroad, welcome to Singapore. It is wonderful to see so many familiar faces, alongside many new participants joining us from across Asia and beyond. Infrastructure Asia, or InfraAsia, is pleased to organise this year’s Forum together with our strategic partner, the World Bank Group and our co-organisers, the Singapore Ministry of Finance, Enterprise Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
2. Today, we gather in uncertain times and that is also why this year’s theme of “Bold Actions for a Sustainable Asia” is so apt. It encourages us to push ahead with building our economies and communities in a way that doesn’t sacrifice our planet’s health, despite the challenges abound.
3. Over the past few editions of the Forum, InfraAsia has strived to make this biennial gathering informative and useful to regional partners and the broader Singapore infrastructure eco-system. One way of doing this is to inject upcoming regional infrastructure projects as part of the Forum. Progressively, you will have noticed that project discussions have increased in prominence. I am pleased that this year, more than 15 projects valued at over USD16 billion will be showcased at AIF. Now, why is this important, you may ask.
4. First, it provides the investors and financiers in the room with visibility of a pipeline of projects that Asia has to offer. Second, it is a valuable opportunity to help shape the risk matrices of these projects. This is especially important when the private sector needs to play a larger role in financing regional infrastructure projects. Thirdly, the Forum presents an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded partners. Therefore, I am very grateful to all the project sponsors for contributing your projects for discussion over the next two days.
5. On a broader note, I also want to acknowledge the trust that the World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have in InfraAsia for joining us in profiling regional projects. To-date, together, we have worked with all three MDBs to showcase more than 12 projects in Singapore to more than 400 participants.
6. Besides the projects to be showcased, today’s Forum also provides a fantastic opportunity to address the most pertinent issues that our industry is facing and to chart a path forward. You will hear from Ministers, senior leaders in multi-laterals and industry titans on their priorities and the trade-offs. A big thank you to our programme partners for helping us shape the ideation roundtables over the next two days. Tomorrow, the Forum will feature the 8th ASEAN Infrastructure Discussion Series, which continues to bring together government and industry stakeholders to strengthen regional dialogue and collaboration on infrastructure development across ASEAN.
7. Besides project development and thought leadership, InfraAsia also plays a critical role in regional capacity building fostering a common level of understanding of public-private partnerships among regional government officials. We do this through the Growing Infrastructure Course, together with the World Bank Group and the Singapore Management University. To-date, over 500 regional government officials have benefitted from this programme and we look forward to welcoming more in November 2026. In fact, many of our regional partners in the room today have colleagues that benefitted from this programme and our Alumni event are growing in popularity.
8. We have an exciting day ahead. Before I close, I would like to express my gratitude towards our distinguished guests, speakers and sponsors. Thank you for being there with us every step of the way. Your strong support makes this event possible and drives InfraAsia to do better. We will continue to serve as a trusted platform where governments, investors and industry leaders can come together to shape, finance and implement infrastructure projects across Asia.
9. Thank you and I wish you a productive two days.
