Building Asia’s Future.docVIP

Building Asia’s Future 　　Although it was officially launched only a year ago， the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank （AIIB） is rapidly expanding with grand goals， with $1.73 billion worth of loans issued thus far to nine energy and infrastructure construction projects in seven countries. 　　The bank was first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Indonesia in October 2013. 　　One year later， on October 24， 2014， representatives of 21 Asian countries willing to join the AIIB as founding members signed a memorandum of understanding （MoU） on establishing the bank in Beijing. The MoU set the AIIB’s authorized capital to $100 billion， with an initial subscribed capital pegged at $50 billion. In March 2015， the United Kingdom declared its interest in becoming a founding member of the AIIB as the first Western country to apply， shortly followed by 17 other European countries including France， Germany and Italy. 　　In April 2015， 57 countries were confirmed to have joined or have applied to join the AIIB as prospective founding members. These 57 countries are from Asia， Europe， Africa， Oceania and South America， including four countries from the Group of Seven （G7） and 14 from the Group of Twenty （G20）. 　　In a recent interview held at AIIB headquarters， the bank’s President Jin Liqun revealed that there are about 30 countries currently queuing up to join the AIIB. “The AIIB pays considerable attention to projects of cross-border infrastructure， green infrastructure， renewable energy， clean transportation and climate change mitigation，” Jin told Ta Kung Pao， a Hong Kongbased newspaper， in December 2016. 　　From 2010 to 2020， as much as $8 trillion is needed if all Asian economies are to upgrade their infrastructure to reach the world average， according to the Asian Development Bank （ADB）. However， multilateral development institutions like the World Bank and ADB tend to fix their eyes on poverty reduction on a global scale， while funds allocated