Details that have emerged of the operation and philosophy of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) show that it is meeting expectations to lead development cooperation as a new type of multilateral financial institution.
Addressing the AIIB board of governors on Saturday, the bank’s President Jin Liqun said that the bank is “now off to a strong start” and has begun to deliver on its commitments to shareholders and the world on organisational performance and corporate governance.
It unveiled the first four projects on Friday with approved financing totaling 509 million US dollars. The funded projects are a power distribution system upgrade and expansion project in Bangladesh, a national slum upgrading project in Indonesia, a motorway project in Pakistan and a border road improvement project in Tajikistan. The bank has set a target of lending about 1.2 billion US dollars in 2016.
The AIIB was officially opened in January this year, six months after its founding members signed its articles of agreement in Beijing.
The AIIB says that the gap for infrastructure financing in Asia has been huge and that the market is big enough for multiple players to coexist. Observers say the AIIB marks a departure from traditional multilateral development banks as it bears the birthmark of seeking win-win development cooperation, largely thanks to the fact that it is led by developing economies and open to both developing and developed economies.
Three of the bank’s first four projects were co-financed with other multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank said.
As a multilateral development bank, the AIIB offers a new platform for enriched cooperation and enhanced regional connectivity and integration, partnering with many other initiatives including the Group of 20 global infrastructure connectivity alliance initiative.
The bank aspires to be “lean, clean and green.” Jin said on Saturday that the bank takes a measured approach to staffing. With the senior leadership team almost complete and mid-level management staffing under way, it now has a total staff of 39, with another 20 expected to join next month or so. They are supplemented by consultants. The total staff is anticipated to be around 100 by the end of the year.
