Finance Minister Lou Jiwei together with guests at the signing ceremony of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in October last year. (Photo : Reuters)
The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) continues to expand its representation worldwide as three European countries--Germany, France and Italy--expressed on March 17, Tuesday, their interest to join the bank as founding members.
Before the trio, U.K. had already taken the lead to join AIIB in an announcement made last week.
The Ministry of Finance welcomed the participation of the three European countries on Tuesday, but said that China will have to consult with other members and make the formal announcement of their status as founding members after two weeks.
Xinhua News Agency also reported that South Korea and two more EU countries (Switzerland and Luxembourg) were also contemplating on joining the bank.
The Financial Times reported that Australia is now rethinking its decision after rejecting China's invitation to join last year. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that they will come up with a decision in a few weeks.
Daniel Russel, U.S. top diplomat for East Asia, said that although the U.S. is concerned about the development of AIIB, it is up to the decision of individual nations whether to join or not.
Meanwhile, China declared that countries have only until March 31 to join as founding member, as it encouraged non-regional countries to participate to boost the representation of the financial institution.
Finance Minister Lou Jiwei reported on March 6 that a total of 27 countries had joined the bank as founding members.
The Global Times reported that China plans to have the articles of agreement finalized before the year ends.
