Istanbul, Türkiye, 25 February 2025 - The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has received the “Development Finance Institution (DFI) of the Year 2025 Award” at the 9th Istanbul Public Private Partnership (PPP) Week, in Türkiye.

The two-day international event, held under the theme of “PPP: More with Less”, was organized by Istanbul’s PPP Center of Excellence with the support of Türkiye’s Ministry of Trade as well as the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK).

The primary goal of the Istanbul PPP Week was to bring experts in Public-Private Partnership from all over the world to an open dialogue on a single platform to discuss PPP together, share good practices, evaluate current conditions, and enhance collaboration and partnerships.

Held on 25-27 February 2025, the event, awarded the Islamic Development Bank as the DFI of the Year 2025, in recognition of the Bank’s achievements and active involvement in the PPP market.

Receiving the award on behalf of the Islamic Development Bank, Dr. Walid Abdelwahab, Director of IsDB Group Regional Hub, Türkiye, stated: “The Islamic Development Bank plays a unique and evolving role in financing sustainable infrastructure by aligning its investment strategy with Shari’ah-compliant principles, environmental sustainability, and socio-economic development in its member countries. The IsDB overachieved its target of Climate Finance by committing over 40% of its financing in 2024 to Climate Investment as per the globally agreed definition of Climate Finance. The IsDB did particularly well in Adaptation Finance as it is applying Climate Finance in both funding and financing of its operations in what we call the " Climate Virtuous Cycle”.

The 9th Istanbul PPP Week also recognized a major IsDB Group PPP project, in Türkiye, as “The PPP Deal of the Year.” The Nakkas – Basaksehir Motorway Project is financed by IsDB, ICD and ICIEC along with several other MDBs. The development objective of the project is to achieve benefits in terms of connectivity enhancement, alleviation of traffic congestion, emissions reductions, enhanced road safety conditions, reduction in travel time costs and new job creation in the wider Istanbul area. As a result of decongestion, the Project will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2 million tons by 2040.

The main speakers at the event were senior government officials, private sector representatives, experts and leading PPP practitioners from 65 countries who discussed current topics in PPP including the changing role of MDBs, digitalization and AI, economic recovery and reconstruction, green infrastructures, capacity building and the best PPP practices.