AIIB can prosper with int'l efforts

BEIJING -- Countries are rushing to join the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), proving its appeal and indicating it has a bright future as the involvement of diverse countries will mean a pooling of wisdom.

Over 30 countries, with Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Luxembourg among the latest on the list, have applied to join the AIIB.

Statistics from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) show that between 2010 and 2020, around 8 trillion US dollars of investment will be needed in the Asia-Pacific region to improve infrastructure. However, the ADB is only able to provide about $10 billion annually for this cause.

The establishment of the AIIB, with an expected initial subscribed capital of $50 billion, will be complementary to the ADB and other multilateral financial institutions including the World Bank.

Moreover, China's rich experience in infrastructure development will come into its own in the new bank, helping countries bolster growth through improving their infrastructure.

European countries such as France and Germany that boast advanced infrastructure are sure to make a big contribution in this area too.

Concerns about the new bank's standards of governance and environmental and social safeguards can also be dispelled as China has envisioned the AIIB to be an open and transparent multilateral organization.

Again, developed European countries in particular that have accumulated abundant managerial expertise in multinational organizations can play a big role in ensuring good AIIB governance.

Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Friday that the AIIB will draw on useful experience from existing multilateral organizations and improve on them. Other experts share the same conviction.

Decades of reform and opening up have taught China the lesson that economic vitality cannot be unleashed until enough respect is paid to market needs and innovation.

By proposing to set up the AIIB, China has answered the call of the market.

The logical next step for China is to pool efforts from the AIIB founder countries to help the Asian economy to grow, benefiting the world as a whole.