Second Annual Meeting of AIIB

South Korean President Moon Jae-in made a congratulatory speech on June 16 at this year’s annual meeting of the AIIB.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in made a congratulatory speech on June 16 at this year’s annual meeting of the AIIB.

 

This year’s annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) took place from June 16 to 18 at the Jeju International Convention Center. The meeting was attended by more than 2,000 people, including AIIB president Jin Liqun, delegation members from the 77 AIIB member countries, heads of international organizations, financiers and entrepreneurs. They discussed the management and strategy of the AIIB under the slogan of sustainable infrastructure.

In his congratulatory speech, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that the new silk road will be completed once South Korea and North Korea are connected by rail and he hopes peace in the Korean Peninsula will contribute to stability and integration in Asia. He added that Asian emerging countries’ infrastructure investment demand totals US$1.7 trillion a year for 20 years to come and the AIIB has a very important role to play during the period.

Established in January last year, the China-led AIIB is a multilateral development bank for infrastructure development in the emerging countries. It was founded by 57 member countries, the number increased to 77 before the annual meeting, and Argentina, Tonga and Madagascar have recently been approved to join it. Next year’s annual meeting is scheduled to take place in Mumbai, India. South Korea currently has a 4.06% share in the AIIB, following China (32.33%), India (9.08%), Russia (7.09%) and Germany (4.87%).

On June 15, in the meantime, the South Korean government met with the AIIB president and agreed to provide US$8 million within this year for the bank’s special fund for project preparation. In addition, South Korean and Chinese financial ministers had a meeting for an hour and agreed to meet with each other more often. Under the circumstances, the US$56 billion currency swap agreement between the two countries is expected to be extended beyond October 10 this year.

 

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