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16:38, 16-Dec-2017
UK pledges US $50 million to AIIB Fund
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The British government will contribute 50 million US dollars to a low-income project fund of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) under a new agreement.
The British finance minister Philip Hammond, who is on a weekend visit to the Chinese capital, signed the deal with AIIB President Jin Liqun, the bank announced on its website on Saturday.
The AIIB Project Preparation Special Fund was established in June 2016 to provide grant support primarily to low income developing member countries to prepare high-quality projects.
China and South Korea have committed 50 million US dollars and eight million US dollars, respectively. The Fund is open for more contributions.
Jin extended gratitude to the UK government for their strong support for the AIIB, saying that the additional resources will help the bank's low-income member countries to prepare projects that will meet AIIB’s standards.
Hammond said that the UK strongly supports the AIIB's vital mission to address the infrastructure gap in Asia.
Recently the bank approved two special fund projects which include one million dollars to Nepal to prepare an urban infrastructure investment project and 700,000 dollars to Sri Lanka to prepare a solid waste management project.