AIIB chief vows to expand cooperation with world for green development

Chief of the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) vowed Saturday to expand the bank's cooperation with every country in the world to achieve one of its main goals of green development.

File photo of AIIB President Jin Liqun. [Photo:AP/Andy Wong]

AIIB President Jin Liqun told a press conference that sustainable infrastructure cannot be achieved single-handedly, noting the AIIB will cooperate with 80 approved members as well as willingly with every country in the world.

The AIIB, officially launched in January 2016, is a multilateral development bank initiated by China and supported by a wide range of countries and regions, which provides financing for infrastructure improvement in Asia.

The second annual meeting of the AIIB's board of governors lasted for two days through Saturday in South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju. The first meeting was held in Beijing last year.

The AIIB membership increased to 80, including 57 founding members, as Argentina, Madagascar and Tonga were approved by the board of governors during Friday's business session.

The growing membership would become a significant catalyst to go beyond Asia, the AIIB chief said.

Jin told reporters that the growing membership was a vote of confidence toward the AIIB and indicated the future of the bank, which is the 21st century institution. Its membership ranges from Asia to Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

The AIIB president said the bank will cooperate in various fields with any country in the world and that the institution has hired any expert meeting requirements regardless of nationality.

Since its launch, the multilateral financial institution approved 2.49 billion U.S. dollars to finance for 16 infrastructure projects in nine countries. Twelve of the projects were co-financed, and four were standalone projects prepared by the bank.

The AIIB has stressed the need for the co-financing with other multilateral development banks (MDBs), the private-sector capital mobilization and cooperation with countries invested by the AIIB.

Jin said the cooperative investment with other institutions will be more productive as infrastructure investment is a large-scale, long-term project requiring huge resources.

Placing an emphasis on the environmentally-friendly development, the president said the AIIB will help its members meet their determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, a global climate change deal.

Jin emphasized that all AIIB projects, whether already invested or in its pipeline, were of green development, saying the bank will make efforts to achieve a zero-carbon world in cooperation with all stakeholders and other institutions such as non-governmental organizations.

During the second annual meeting, participants discussed challenges facing the 18-month-old AIIB, said Joachim von Amsberg, the bank's vice president.

The challenges included how to solve the paradox in Asia of infrastructure financing, in which institutional investors refrain from investing in infrastructure development of developing countries.

The other challenges were how to respond to Asia's energy demand, how to provide tens of millions of people in Asia with energy, how to go toward a low-carbon future and how to contribute to the Paris Agreement.

Amsberg said the AIIB will help its members speed up a low-carbon future and implement the Paris Agreement as every country would have every different difficulty and challenge under the agreement.