The future of development assistance in South Asia

  • Thu, November 12, 2026 • 9:00 am ET
  • Virtual event

Experts discuss how foreign assistance is changing in South Asia as grants give way to loans from multilateral lenders.

On Thursday, November 12 at 9:00 a.m. ET, the Atlantic Council’s Future of Emerging Economies project will host a virtual discussion on how foreign assistance is changing in South Asia and the implications and opportunities for governments there.

The global foreign assistance landscape is experiencing major shifts. In South Asia, Western bilateral aid is declining, multilateral development bank financing is increasing, and non-Western bilateral and philanthropic flows are growing steadily. The development model is evolving from grant-based Western aid toward loan-based multilateral and non-Western financing.

Two new Atlantic Council reports focus on how these changes are playing out in Pakistan and Bangladesh—the world’s fifth and eighth most populous countries, respectively, and traditionally two of the largest overseas development assistance (ODA) recipient countries in Asia. The reports’ authors and other experts will discuss the reports’ key findings and the options policymakers in Islamabad and Dhaka have to address new ODA realities.

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Speakers

Leon Waskin
Nonresident Senior Fellow,
Atlantic Council

Imran Shauket
Senior Advisor,
Atlantic Council

Shamarukh Mohiuddin
Nonresident Senior Fellow,
Atlantic Council

Jumaina Siddiqui
Nonresident Senior Fellow,
Atlantic Council

Moderated By

Michael Kugelman
Resident Senior Fellow, South Asia,
Atlantic Council

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