Indonesia has formally signed up for the China sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) becoming the 22nd nation along with India and other Asian countries to join as founding members.
Indonesia's Finance Minister has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
Indonesian Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro signed the MOU in Jakarta on Tuesday, joining 21 countries that signed the MOU on October 24 in Beijing as the bank's founding members, China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) said.
So far the number of Prospective Founding Members of the AIIB has increased to 22, including Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The MOF said any countries interested in the AIIB are welcomed to join the bank.
Headquartered in Beijing, the Bank will have authorised capital of USD 100 billion and subscribed capital of USD 50 billion.
Voting rights are to be decided after consultations among the members over fixing the bench marks which were expected to be combination of GDP and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
It is expected that the Prospective founding members will complete the signing and ratification of the Articles of Agreement (AOA) in 2015 and AIIB will be formally established by the end of 2015.
Besides AIIB, China also launched the BRICS Bank along with India and other members and announced a USD 40 billion fund to build the new Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road.
Australia, South Korea and Japan did not join the bank which US criticized saying that it lacked transparency.
Commenting on Indonesia joining the AIIB, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told media briefing here today that the investment target of the AIIB perfectly aligns with the development strategy of Indonesia's new government, that is, to promote infrastructure construction on the sea and in other areas and to enhance connectivity.
The Chinese side stands ready to work with all the prospective founding members, including Indonesia, to build the AIIB into an infrastructure financing platform that is equal, inclusive and efficient, as well as a multilateral development bank that accommodates the development needs of all countries in the region, she said.
