DUSHANBE, January 18, 2016, Asia-Plus — The inaugural meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s Board of Governors was held in Beijing on January 16-17, 2016. 30 Governors, representing over 74 percent of the AIIB’s allocated capital, participated. They were joined by observers from the 27 signatories to the Bank’s Articles that are still completing the membership process.
The Governors approved the AIIB’s by-laws, rules and codes of conduct. The Governors elected the Bank’s Board of Directors and Mr. Jin Liqun as the first President of the Bank.
First Deputy Chairman of the State Committee on Investments and State-owned Property Management (QosKomInvest), Lochin Fayzullozoda, represented Tajikistan at an official opening the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Lochin Fayzullozoda is an alternate director for Tajikistan at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Farrukh Hamralizoda, presidential adviser for economic issues, is a director for Tajikistan at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank was proposed as an initiative by the government of China, supported by 37 regional and 20 non-regional Prospective Founding Members (PFM), all of which have signed the Articles of Agreement that form the legal basis for the proposed bank. The bank will start operation after the agreement enters into force, which requires ratifications from 10 member states holding a total number of 50% of the initial subscriptions of the Authorized Capital Stock. On December 25, 2015, 17 states (Australia, Austria, Brunei, China, Georgia, Germany, Jordan, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea and the United Kingdom) together holding 50.1% of the initial subscriptions of Authorized Capital Stock, had deposited the instrument of ratification for the agreement, triggering entry into force, and making them all founding members and bringing the Articles of Agreement, the bank”s charter, into force. India, Finland, Malta, Nepal and Russia followed later, taking the amount of Authorized Capital Stock held by the 23 members of the bank to 65%. Major economies that did not become PFM include the United States, Japan and Canada.
China, India and Russia are the three largest shareholders, with a voting share of 26.06 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 5.92 per cent, respectively.
Tajikistan ratified the Articles of Agreement (AOA) of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on December 2, 2015. According to the Tajik Ministry of Finance, Tajikistan’s share in the AIIB amounts to $30.9 million.
AIIB is regarded by some as a rival for the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which are regarded as dominated by developed countries like the United States. The United Nations has addressed the launch of AIIB as having potential for “scaling up financing for sustainable development” for the concern of global economic governance. The capital of the bank is $100 billion, equivalent to 2⁄3 of the capital of the Asian Development Bank and about half that of the World Bank.
The bank was proposed by China in 2013 and the initiative was launched at a ceremony in Beijing in October 2014
The AIIB is designed to provide financial support for infrastructure development and regional connectivity in Asia. The Bank is expected to foster sustainable economic development, create wealth and improve infrastructure connectivity in Asia by investing in infrastructure and other productive sectors. It will also promote regional cooperation and partnership in addressing development challenges by working in close collaboration with other multilateral and bilateral development institutions.
