Jordan officially founding member of China-based infrastructure bank

AMMAN — Jordan was among the 50 of the 57 founding countries of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) which signed up to the association in Beijing on Monday.

Representing the Kingdom, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury signed the articles of association at a ceremony in Beijing creating AIIB's legal framework.

According to a ministry statement sent to The Jordan Times, Fakhoury also participated in the ministerial meeting that followed the signing ceremony during which several financial, administrative and operational measures related to AIIB were discussed.

Fakhoury told the meeting that the major objective behind establishing the bank is to secure finance for investments in infrastructure and productivity sectors like energy, electricity, water, transport and communications in Asia, adding that Jordan relies immensely on the bank's capability to contribute to the development of Asian countries, the statement said.

The projected Beijing-based bank will have a share capital of $100 billion, with 75 per cent of the shares owned by Asian countries.

China will be by far the largest shareholder with about 30 per cent stake, the articles of association posted on the website of China’s finance ministry showed. India is the second biggest shareholder with 8.4 per cent and Russia third with 6.5 per cent.

Among non-Asian participants, Germany is the largest shareholder with 4.5 per cent, followed by France (3.4 per cent) and Brazil (3.2 per cent).

In February this year, Jordan signed up to the bank as a prospective founding member, the statement said.

The bank will start full operations by the beginning of next year, according to the statement.