South Korea and Turkey latest to apply for Asian Infra Bank membership

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South Korea and Turkey latest to apply for Asian Infra Bank membership

South Korea and Turkey have confirmed plans to become funding member of the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The bank has been initially capitalised with US$50 billion, about the 50% of them has been funded by China. The bank is expected to be established by the end of 2015.

This announcement comes after the decision of three European countries, Italy, France and Germany, to join the AIIB. At that time Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei stated:

"We welcome countries to join the AIIB as prospective founding members. The AIIB is an open and inclusive multilateral investment institution. Participation by countries outside the region will intensify the extensive representativeness of the AIIB."

In mid March we reported that Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne announced that UK intended to become a prospective founding member of the AIIB. UK was followed by major European nations France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria.

New Zealand became on January 5th the 24th nation to sign on and join as a founding member the AIIB. Previously, in November 2014, we reported that Indonesia had decided to join the AIIB and one month before twenty-one Asian countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the AIIB.

According to sources Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have declined to become founding members. So far about 37 countries and regions have applied to join the AIIB.

Once fully operational the AIIB will support access to finance for infrastructure projects across Asia,using a variety of support measures, including loans, equity investments, and guarantees, to boost investment across a range of sectors including transportation, energy, telecommunication, agriculture and urban development. This support can complement the work already done in the region by existing Multilateral Development Banks such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

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