Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 16th: Why is the "circle of friends" of the AIIB getting bigger and bigger on the 7th anniversary of its opening and operation?

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Pan Jie

　　On January 16, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ushered in the seventh anniversary of its opening and operation.

From 57 founding members seven years ago to 106 members from six continents today, why is the "circle of friends" of the AIIB getting bigger and bigger?

　　Firmly practicing multilateralism, more and more peer partners gather——

　　More than half a month ago, the African country Mauritania was approved to join the AIIB.

Today, the AIIB has 106 members, covering 81% of the world's population and 65% of GDP, making it the world's second largest international multilateral development institution with fewer members than the World Bank.

　　Keep open, always open the door; promote development together, and move forward hand in hand with partners.

　　In 2022, the AIIB will newly establish a Financing Partnership Bureau to expand friendly and cooperative relations with global development institutions.

In addition, the AIIB has also established cooperative partnerships with institutions such as the OPEC International Development Fund, the Development Bank of Latin America, the KfW Bank, and the Export-Import Bank of China to jointly promote solutions to global development issues.

　　More and more projects are being done, and the credibility is constantly improving——

　　In 2018, the village of Padma Bari in Bangladesh achieved electricity access for the first time.

Over the past seven years, the AIIB has approved a total of 202 projects that help infrastructure construction, promote local economic and social development, and improve people's lives, with a total financing of more than 38.8 billion US dollars and a capital of nearly 130 billion US dollars.

　　On the basis of firmly supporting the sustainable development of members in the Asian region, the AIIB will increase its financing support for members outside the region in 2022. The first project in Brazil and the first project in Côte d'Ivoire have been approved successively.

Over the past seven years, the AIIB's projects have been distributed in 33 countries around the world, involving energy, transportation, water, communications, education, public health and other industries.

　　The rapidly growing business scale is also driving the AIIB to continuously expand its global business presence.

Following the establishment and opening of the Tianjin Office in 2021, the AIIB will begin preparations for the establishment of its first overseas office in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in 2022 to expand its investment business in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, Latin America and other regions.

　　Thanks to its sound business development, prudent risk control, and high-standard internal governance and management, the AIIB has always maintained the highest AAA credit rating given by the three major international rating agencies.

　　The quality of cooperation is getting higher and higher, and the development is getting faster and faster——

　　In September 2020, the AIIB released its first medium-term development strategy (2021-2030), and green infrastructure was listed as one of the four key business areas.

To this end, the AIIB has set a climate financing target, that is, by 2025, climate financing must account for at least 50% of the total approved financing.

In 2022, the AIIB's annual climate financing will be particularly significant, accounting for 55%.

　　Be brave in pioneering and innovating, and respond to diverse needs.

As a new member of the family of international multilateral institutions, the AIIB innovates in development concepts, business models and institutional governance, and promotes interconnection and green development through flexible and diverse development financing products.

　　In June 2022, the AIIB successfully issued 1.5 billion yuan of sustainable development panda bonds in China's interbank market.

This is the first sustainable development bond issued by an international multilateral institution in China after the launch of the sustainable development bond, providing domestic and foreign investors with high-quality RMB assets.

　　In addition, the AIIB also expanded the scale of the "COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Fund" for the third time according to the needs of members, providing financial support for members to effectively respond to the impact of the epidemic and restore economic and social development; at the same time, a new "Special Fund Window for Low-income Countries" was established to Help low-income members improve project preparation and implementation capabilities, and reduce financing costs.

　　Looking back on the past seven years, we have achieved fruitful results; looking forward to the future, we can expect promising prospects.

　　Jin Liqun, president of the AIIB, said that standing at a new starting point, the AIIB will continue to shoulder the expectations of the international community, especially developing countries, for promoting common development and improving global economic governance, upholding multilateralism, internationalization, standardization and high-level Standardized management, actively promote multilateral dialogues, deepen international cooperation, and make greater contributions to coping with global challenges and promoting sustainable development.