China-led AIIB expects to have 85 members by end-2017: president

REUTERS: China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) expects to have 85 members by the end of this year, its president Jin Liqun said yesterday.
“Now we have 77 members. By the end of this year, we expect to have about 85 members, including Hong Kong SAR,” Jin said at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.
On Saturday, AIIB said its board of governors had adopted resolutions approving seven applicants to join the bank, bringing the bank’s total approved membership to 77.
The seven prospective members - Bahrain, Cyprus, Samoa, Bolivia, Chile, Greece and Romania - will officially join AIIB once they deposit their first instalment of capital with the bank.
Beijing-based AIIB, formed in January 2016, aims to provide infrastructural financing in the Asia-Pacific region. The multilateral development bank has been viewed as a rival to the Western-dominated World Bank and Asian Development Bank.