BEIJING, Oct. 24  -- Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will be an inter-governmental regional development institution in Asia, Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Friday, stressing it will play a complementary instead of competitive role with existing multilateral development banks (MDBs).

AIIB will follow the operational model and principles of MDBs while focusing its business on infrastructure development, Lou said in a media interview.

Twenty-first Asian countries that are willing to join AIIB as founding members on Friday signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing AIIB.

Lou said that AIIB will work closely with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other multilateral and bilateral development institutions, promote regional cooperation and partnership and contribute to efforts in addressing development challenges.

AIIB will be a new member and partner in the international development community. Given the tremendous infrastructure financing needs in Asia and the different mission and business priorities that AIIB has, the AIIB will play a complementary instead of competitive role with existing MDBs, said Lou.

He said AIIB will focus on infrastructure development in Asia while existing MDBs, such as the World Bank and the ADB, mainly focus on poverty alleviation.

History shows that the establishment of regional MDBs, including ADB and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, did not weaken the influence of existing MDBs such as the World Bank. Instead, they have helped to build up the aggregate capacity of development financing and promoted the development of global economy, according to Lou.

China will as it always support existing MDBs and promote the cooperation and complementarities between AIIB and existing MDBs to promote the steady and continuous development of Asian economy, the minister said, stressing that AIIB will strengthen its cooperation with existing MDBs in various ways such as co-financing after its establishment.

As an important shareholder of World Bank and ADB, China will continue to support the existing MDBs to contribute more in promoting global poverty alleviation and development, he added.