World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati has expressed support for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as it pledged to cooperate closely with the Chinese financial institution.
"Any new initiative that will mobilize funding in order to fill infrastructure gap is certainly welcome. World Bank really welcomes the AIIB initiative," Indrawati told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
Indrawati also welcomed AIIB into the world of financial market and dispelled issues that the AIIB will face competition with the World Bank and other regional development banks. He said that what is important is that AIIB should be able to match the need for infrastructure with the availability of funds or resources.
"We will definitely open for cooperation with AIIB. Even now, we are working very closely in the beginning and looking at the setting, principle and framework of this institution," the director was quoted as saying.
She said that the World Bank will support AIIB and work to ensure that other countries can rely on the Chinese institution in setting up infrastructure that can be developed in a better and sustainable way.
"By working with us, it's going to show and prove that they (AIIB) are adopting the same principle like other international institutions, for example, like World Bank," said Indrawati.
The AIIB is interested to become an international financial institution that can have the resources to support infrastructure projects in Asia. The bank is set to be established at the end of this year.
At least 27 countries have shown interest to become its founding members; some of these include Germany, Italy, Britain, and France. Australia, Luxembourg and Switzerland have recently announced their intention to join as founding members.