Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, on Wednesday, 12 Nissan signed t a letter of application to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AII), a result of the initiative of the President of China. By doing so, Israel will join more than 40 other countries who have already joined the new bank.

The process of joining the bank was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recognition of the importance of joining major Asian organizations on the continent. Israel’s membership in the Bank will open opportunities for integration of Israeli companies in various infrastructure projects, which will be financed by the bank.

The new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was established as result of the initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2014. The new bank will complement the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The bank plans to invest a total of $ 100 billion in infrastructure projects in Asian countries; half of that amount has already been budgeted by China.

Approximately 40 countries, including Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, Switzerland and Denmark have already submitted their request to be founder members. Identical requests have been filed by countries in the Middle East, including Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, among others. Ten other countries intend to submit their application today – the final date for submission.

The International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions have expressed their willingness to cooperate with AIIB.

It should be noted that the establishment of the bank is a Chinese diplomatic achievement. China initially intended that 35 countries should join, and to date 50 countries have joined. The establishment of AIIB is one of the most important initiatives in terms of Chinese foreign policy and in particular for President Xi Jinping, as this is his personal initiative.

In the coming months the Israeli Finance Ministry will participate in the negotiations relating to the bank’s founding documents.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)