AIIB expands membership to 100 in 3 years
The decision was madeunanimously by AIIB's Board of Governors at its fourth annual meeting held in Luxembourg.
The three prospectivenon-regional members will officially join the AIIB once they complete therequired domestic processes and deposit the first capital installment with thebank.
In the meantime, the bank'smeeting elected Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun as chairman of the board.
With its approved membershipincreasing to 100, and the volume of approved financing expanding to 8.5billion U.S. dollars, the AIIB has become an important member of multilateraldevelopment system, said Liu at the bank's annual meeting.
The China-initiatedmultilateral financial institution began operation in January 2016 with 57founding members, with an agenda focused on supporting sustainable developmentthrough infrastructure and other productive sectors in Asia and beyond.
Lauding the progress the AIIBhas made over the last three years, Liu said that the AIIB has been grantedpermanent observer status by the United Nations General Assembly, issued itsfirst U.S.-dollar-denominated global bond, as well as developed a series ofimportant strategies and policies.
«AIIB memberscollectively account for 78 percent of the world's population and 63 percent ofglobal GDP. With the backing of all of our members, we are building a lean,clean, and green institution that can help to support their sustainabledevelopment,»said AIIB President Jin Liqun.
On the bank's continuousenlargement, AIIB Vice President and Corporate Secretary Sir Danny Alexandercommented, «That another 43 members have joined in the last three years isrecognition that AIIB has established itself as part of the rules-basedinternational system, with strong governance and high internationalstandards.»
According to him, thewidely-represented bank takes interest in expanding its business in Africa.
«We now have members onevery continent, and we welcome the growing interest of African countries inAIIB. We look forward to working with Benin, Djibouti and Rwanda to supporttheir development in the years to come,» he said.
Under the theme«Cooperation and Connectivity,» the two-day annual AIIB meetingkicked off in Luxembourg on Friday for the first time outside Asia. It drewover 1,000 AIIB officials, representatives from members and partnerinstitutions, business leaders and experts.
The meeting this yearhighlighted stronger Asia-Europe cooperation and connectivity, digitalconnectivity, climate change, sustainable infrastructure and mobilizing financefor circular economy transitions.
The bank's board of governorsdecided to hold its fifth annual meeting in Beijing on July 2-3, 2020.
The AIIB has approved 46projects worth 8.5 billion U.S. dollars in 18 members, such as buildinghighways and power plants.
The remarkable results havetestified to the bank's operational efficiency, according to Luxembourg'sFinance Minister Pierre Gramegna. «We are glad we contributed from thebeginning to the setting-up of AIIB, because this bank is a real successstory,» he told Xinhua.
In particular, he expressedhis belief that multilateralism is the only way to solve the worldwide issueslike poverty and climate change, and the AIIB is an important instrument.
«If we do not embark onsustainable development, if we do not try to save countries with a low standardof living through sustainable investment, if we don't do these things well,climate change will make sure that the temperature would rise above two degreesand that our planet may basically not survive,» Gramegna noted.