BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB, the Bank) will host the 2025 Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) Privacy Symposium, which brings together privacy professionals from international development institutions to share best practices and address emerging data protection challenges.
Since its inception in 2017, the MDB Privacy Symposium has served as a vital platform for collaboration among MDBs, focusing on the development and implementation of privacy programmes. The 2025 edition will place special emphasis on the intersection of data privacy and artificial intelligence (AI), a rapidly evolving area of concern for global institutions.
The Symposium will run from October 8 – 9 at the bank’s Wildey headquarters and features interactive sessions on topics related to ensuring privacy programmes are AI-ready, conducting privacy assessments of AI tools, embedding privacy in the project lifecycle, advancing the MDB Privacy Toolkit and reviewing lessons learned from privacy audits and assessments.
Acting vice-president of corporate services at CDB, Ian Durant, emphasised the importance of the event in strengthening institutional resilience, “Hosting the 2025 MDB Privacy Symposium reflects CDB’s commitment to embedding global best practices in data privacy across our operations. This forum will ensure that we can remain informed, proactive and aligned with international standards in the face of AI and digital technologies that are reshaping development.”
The Symposium also supports CDB’s broader strategic goals of deepening partnerships and enhancing institutional capacity.
“This gathering of experts is not only about compliance—it’s about collaboration,” the vice president added. “By working together, MDBs can build stronger, more responsive privacy frameworks that will protect individuals and support innovation in development.”
Participants will include privacy officers, legal experts, and digital governance professionals from major global, regional, and sub-regional development banks. The event is expected to generate actionable insights, strengthen the MDB privacy community, and advance collective responses to shared challenges.