BEIJING (AP) – The head of the newly opened Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank said the China-led group is aiming to approve its first loans before the end of the year, part of Beijing’s efforts to weave together regional trade partners and solidify its global status. Two years later, the bank was formally set up with the Articles of Agreement taking effect on 25 December last year.
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“This is a historic moment”, Xi said, adding that China wants to improve the investment environment and integration in Asia through the 57-member AIIB.
With authorised capital of US$100 billion and subscribed capital of US$50 billion, Beijing-based AIIB will invest in sectors including energy, transportation, urban construction and logistics as well as education and healthcare.
The AIIB will credit projects in USA dollars while attracting capital in other currencies, according to Mr Jin.
“The AIIB is specifically for infrastructure, so we see it as a supplement to projects in Nepal funded by the ADB (Asian Development Bank) and World Bank”, he said, as per the report.
Calling the initiative to establish the AIIB “a constructive move”, Xi said it will enable China “to undertake more worldwide obligations, promote improvement of the current global economic system and provide more worldwide public goods”. Thus, it follows China and India, which have 26.06 and 7.5% of the vote respectively.
The establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was initiated by China.
He said the institution will be a “highly efficient, upright and a new type of multilateral development bank in the 21st century”. The largest non-Asian shareholder of AIIB is Germany (4.5 percent). The Secretary attended the inaugural meetings of the Bank as New Zealand’s Governor and addressed the other 56 founding members during the proceedings.
Even so, no specific infrastructure projects would be announced “for the time being”, AIIB President Jin Liqun said on the sidelines of the launch. The bank is headquartered in Beijing. India, the second-biggest shareholder, sent a finance ministry official to Saturday’s ceremony instead of one of its top government leaders.
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The new lender is expected to name its first lending projects in mid-2016. They agreed to the need to fill large infrastructure gap in the Asia and Pacific region, the critical role of infrastructure in supporting sustainable development and poverty reduction, and the importance of strong policies to ensure the environmental and social sustainability of projects.
