Beijing: President Xi Jinping said on Monday the signing of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) agreement is a historic step forward in building the China-initiated multilateral bank.
“The signing of the document reveals the commitment of the parties involved in the founding of the AIIB, as well as their solidarity, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness and quest for common development,” Xi told representatives of the 57 prospective founding countries including Finance Minister Ishaq Dar from Pakistan.
The 60-article agreement specified each member’s share as well as the bank’s governance structure and policy-making mechanism. The bank will have authorized capital of 100 billion US dollars, and Asian and Oceania countries will contribute up to 75 per cent of the total capital. Each member will be allocated a share of quota based on their economic size. China, India and Russia are the three largest shareholders.
China proposed the AIIB to boost Asia’s infrastructure improvement, interconnectivity and regional cooperation. “The founding countries have reached a high-quality agreement today. As long as all parties stick to the spirit of multilateral cooperation, we can make the AIIB a new platform that features openness, inclusiveness and mutual benefits, and contribute to Asian infrastructure development,” the president said.
Xi further said that since China’s reform and opening up, its economic and social development has benefited from the support of multilateral banks such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as well as other countries. “China’s development would not have been possible without Asia and the world,” he said. “As China grows stronger, we are willing to make our due contribution to world development,” Xi said.
“We will continue to support existing multilateral banks, and by proposing the AIIB, we also hope to promote current institutions to better meet the requirement of their member countries and global economic system changes,” he said. The China-proposed AIIB and Belt and Road Initiative aim at solving practical issues of the region, Xi said, adding the AIIB will complement current global financial institutions.
“China will make joint efforts with various founding countries to build a professional, efficient and clean multilateral bank, and jointly contribute to Asia and world economic prosperity,” Xi said. The AIIB was proposed by Xi in October 2013.
