Earlier, the board of directors had approved the Bank’s first four project loans, amounting to over half a billion USA dollars.
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The China-founded Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) should create a robust, independent accountability body to investigate rights abuses linked to its projects, Human Rights Watch said today.
AIIB, launched formally in December a year ago, is an global financial institution that particularly aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
In its first year of operation, the AIIB expects to approve about $1.2 billion in financing and will approve another batch of projects by the end of the year, it said.
He says the Chinese government is already promising to seed that new fund with $50 million USA dollars. “More Latin American nations will join AIIB soon” and the bank may look at projects there, he said. “.Compared with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and other multilateral development banks, the AIIB’s advantage lies in its keener understanding of the successful experience and lessons of developing countries’ years of development”.
Akira Matusnaga, economist at the ADB’s South Asia department, said the project will help Dhaka improve its water management and prevent losses, which now hinder the ability of the city to meet rapidly growing customer needs.
The bank, with $100 billion in paid-in capital, is expected to be a major force in development financing and implementation not only in the Asia-Pacific region but also in the rest of the world. The AIIB would not like to be seen as a “pawn” of China and is trying to shake off any suspicions coming from Washington that its banking practices do not satisfy “international standards of governance and transparency”. He acknowledged Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, saying he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the bank wouldn’t set up an office in London.
“It’s a very Western view to be threatened by the AIIB – it is when the others do their own thing that we feel threatened”, said Antonio Fatas, economics professor with the Insead business school in Singapore.
While in Beijing, Mr Tsang will meet with the Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Mr Liu Shiyu, and the AIIB President, Mr Jin Liqun. China is its founder and largest shareholder.
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The project will become the first joint EBRD-AIIB investment. Jin has been in charge of selecting the members other than Hatoyama, a source said. “This is not China’s bank”.
