Chinese President Xi : AIIB Has Made Two Breakthroughs on Governance

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has drawn on the practices of existing multilateral development banks in many ways. It has also made some breakthroughs and explored new ways of operation.

The remarks were made as he conducted a written interview with Reuters on Sunday, in advance of his state visit to Britain.

He took governance structure as an example. “AIIB has, with reference to the common practice of multilateral development banks, set up a three-tiered structure, consisting of a board of governors, a board of directors and a management team. It has also put in place an oversight mechanism in line with the principle of transparency, openness, independence and accountability. It is specified in the agreement that the management team will be selected through an open, transparent and merit-based process.” He stressed this is a new principle not included in the constitution of existing major multilateral development banks.

Xi noted that another example is that the AIIB places no restriction on the procurement of goods and services from any country, and again this is not the case in the other regional multilateral development banks.”

“AIIB is an international financial institution whose rules of operation are decided by its members through consultation, not by China alone.” Xi said that China agree that the AIIB should fully draw on the experience and practices of other multilateral development banks, observe high international standards in terms of governance structure, operation guidelines, and human resources management, and ensure its professional and efficient operation as well as transparency and integrity.

He added that during the negotiation over the AIIB agreement, 57 prospective founding members acted on the principle of openness, inclusion, professionalism and transparency, and concluded a high-quality agreement text. A total of 53 prospective founding members have signed the agreement.

Britain was the first European country to sign up for membership of the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Xi said that China commends and welcomes the UK joining into the AIIB. China are ready to work with the UK and all other prospective founding members to build the AIIB into a professional and efficient infrastructure financing platform to contribute to the development of Asia and beyond.

“China's initiative to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank aims to promote infrastructure development and connectivity in Asia and boost regional cooperation.” he said.

He noted that the AIIB prospective founding members are working on the specific operation guidelines in accordance with the agreement. The relationship between the AIIB and existing multilateral development banks is a cooperative and complementary one. The AIIB will engage in cooperation with them in terms of sharing expertise, capacity building and joint financing.