Bangladesh is going to strike a deal on June 29 to be the founding member of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), an international financial institution proposed by China.
State Minister for Finance and Planning M A Mannan would put pen on the agreement paper in Beijing. To this end, a Bangladeshi delegation led by the state minister is scheduled to leave here for Beijing on June 27.
Talking to BSS, about the engagement with the AIIB, M A Mannan said, "AIIB has been formed aimed at developing the infrastructure, and we have the necessity to develop our infrastructures such as rail, road and bridges that has encouraged us to be the founding member of the bank."
He said Bangladesh used to borrow money with soft interest rate from multinational donors like World Bank, Asian Development etc. "Engagement with the AIIB is being created another source for borrowing money for the development of infrastructure," opined the state minister.
Replying to a query, Mannan said engagement with the AIIB would not lay any impact with the existing relation with the World Bank or Asian Development Bank.
The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia region. Last year, Bangladesh joined other 22 Asian countries in Beijing and signed a MOU to set up a $100 billion AIIB.     ?BSS