Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is of the view that Asia accounts for 50% of the global population but only constitutes 30% of the world GDP. It felt that making countries, many of which are land-locked, more connected through rail and road network using the resources of AIIB, to boost trade and economic growth, can reduce the disparity. AIIB chief investment officer D.J. Pandian’s said: “It is important to innovate and collaborate with multilateral financial institutions. For instance, AIIB has done a project with the ADB in India in power transmission and have approved a project in Bangalore Metro in collaboration with EIB.”
Pandian said it is imperative to create and leverage collaborations in order to support cross country projects, which can be through partnerships with various governments, corporates, institutions as well as public and private sectors. AIIB will consider investing in projects outside Asia as long as they serve to benefit the Asian regions too.
AIIB’s membership has grown from 57 founding members to 87 from all continents, with addition of Lebanon during AGM in Mumbai with a turnout of around 2000 participants. AIIB is the first major multilateral development bank where principal contributors are the borrowing members themselves. While 75% of the capital in AIIB is from Asia, several non-Asian regions like Europe, North America, some East African and Latin American countries have also joined the bank as members.
