Almaty Meeting Completes AIIB Articles of Association; 46 Nations Apply as Founding Members

With representatives of the 30 nations that have been so far approved as the founding members of the China-led AIIB, attended the third AIIB working meeting at Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the past two days, and reported that the articles of association have now been drafted. As of Tuesday’s deadline, 46 nations have applied to become founding members. The final tally of approved founding members will be confirmed by April 15, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, according to the Global Times. The new bank is scheduled to commence operation by the end of 2015.

Sweden, Norway, and Kyrgyzstan were the last three countries to apply for the founding membership status. This came after Egypt, Finland, and Russia had announced their intention of joining the AIIB as founding members on March 30. With dozens of nations from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, including some of the world’s major economies, ready to join the China-led bank, the Global Times pointed out, that the US and Japan have opted not to apply for founding member status.

The AIIB was initiated by President Xi Jinping in 2013. Founding member nations have the right to create the governance and operating rules for the bank. Countries that join after the deadline will have voting rights only, with less say in the rule-making process. The original agreement signed by 21 countries in October, 2013, at the time China announced it, said that voting rights in the bank will be allocated based on a country’s relative gross domestic product (GDP), but also taking into account diverse other factors.

The main purpose of AIIB is to promote economic development, create wealth, and improve the interaction of infrastructure in Asia. The authorized capital of the bank will amount to $100 billion. Estimates from the Asian Development Bank suggest that Asia will need $8 trillion in national infrastructure and $290 billion in regional infrastructure through 2020 to develop an inter-connected infrastructure in Asia that would facilitate continent’s long-term economic growth.