DHAKA: Twenty Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Friday have signed the memorandum of understanding to establish the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Representatives of China and 21 other Asian countries Friday in Beijing signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Establishing the AIIB.

Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam signed the MoU, reports  colombopage.com.

The United States has opposed the establishment of the AIIB saying it will compete with existing multilateral development banks (MDBs) such as the World Bank.

However, the Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei stressed that AIIB will be an inter-governmental regional development institution in Asia and it will play a complementary instead of competitive role with existing MDBs.

AIIB will follow the operational model and principles of MDBs while focusing its business on infrastructure development, Lou said.

The Chinese Finance Minister assured that as an important shareholder of World Bank and ADB, China will continue to support the existing MDBs to contribute more in promoting global poverty alleviation and development.

BDST: 1502 HRS, OCT 24, 2014