Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)::-- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution proposed by China. The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia Pacific region. AIIB is regarded by some as a rival for the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which the AIIB says are dominated by developed countries like the United States and Japan. History ::-- The first news reports about the AIIB appeared in October 2013.[1] China has been frustrated with the slow pace of reforms, governance and greater input in global established institutions like the IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank which are dominated by American, European and Japanese interests.[2] It has been identified the region requires $8 trillion to be invested from 2010 to 2012 in infrastructure for the region to continue economic development.[2][3] It is hoped that the new bank will allow China which has enormous capital to finance these projects and allow it a greater role to play in the economic development of the region consummate with its growing economic and political clout.[4] In June 2014 China proposed doubling the registered capital of the bank from $50 billion to $100 billion and invited India to participate in the founding the bank.[5][6] On October 24, 2014, a signing ceremony held in Beijing, formally recognized the establishment of the bank. 21 countries signed the bill, which included: China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.[7] U.S. pressure led Australia, Indonesia and South Korea from signing up as founding members, despite the fact that they had formerly expressed an interest in it.[8] The next step is to negotiate the bank’s articles of agreement, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.[9][10] Member countries ::-- China will stake major shares while other Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, have agreed to sign the MoU.[11] Bangladesh is going to sign an MoU with China on 24 October 2014.[12] Founding members Member countries Date of accession Bangladesh 2014 Brunei 2014 Cambodia 2014 China 2014 India 2014 Kazakhstan 2014 Kuwait 2014 Laos 2014 Malaysia 2014 Mongolia 2014 Myanmar 2014 Nepal 2014 Oman 2014 Pakistan 2014 Philippines 2014 Qatar 2014 Singapore 2014 Sri Lanka 2014 Thailand 2014 Uzbekistan 2014 Vietnam 2014 Invited countries The initial $50 billion was mostly provided by China, but Pakistan, India, Singapore and Vietnam were also signatories. however . There are a total of 21 signatories.[13] Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Australia were not in attendance, but China’s Ministry of Finance said any country that signs and ratifies the articles can still officially become a founding member though they must first be accepted by the existing members.[9] Reception ::-- The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has said that the need for infrastructure in developing countries is great so that the activities of new organizations would be welcome.[14] The president of ADB, Takehiko Nakao, noted the huge infrastructure financing needs in Asia and said that the establishment of the AIIB is an understandable step. He said that when AIIB is established, ADB will be willing to consider appropriate collaboration and, at the same time, urged that AIIB adopt international best practices in such areas as procurement and social safeguards on lending arrangements.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 06:03:26 +0000
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