AIIB Adds 13 More, Reaches 70 Approved Members

Your Excellency, President Xi,
Distinguished Governors,
Honored Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a tremendous privilege and honor to be elected the first President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. I am most appreciative of the faith and confidence that you have bestowed by entrusting me with this vital mandate. I pledge to do my utmost to ensure that the Bank meets the high bar that you, our shareholders, have set – an institution built on transparency, openness, accountability and independence. An agile and innovative institution that learns from the past and recognizes the promise and opportunities of the future.

In October 2013 His Excellency, President Xi Jinping, proposed a vision for a multilateral financial institution designed to improve the livelihoods of Asia’s people through investment in infrastructure and enhanced regional connectivity. President Xi’s invitation to the world has been warmly embraced.

Distinguished Governors, thank you for accepting the President’s invitation. Your extraordinary commitment and steadfast support have brought us together to celebrate the transformation of this vision into reality with the opening of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

AIIB is off to a good start. We will do our best to promote broad-based economic and social development through sustainable infrastructure investment in the Bank’s member countries. We will do our best to protect the environment and take care of the people in project areas.

We are proud of the Bank we have created: the process of its establishment has been participatory and inclusive; and its Charter embodies the views, voices, and values of its shareholders.

Our professional staff will come from all over the world, and they will be highly motivated.

I am committed to run AIIB as an organization which is ‘lean, clean and green’.

Under the leadership and guidance of AIIB’s Board of Governors, I will also work very closely with the Bank’s Board of Directors in the interest of all the member countries and the people they represent. I am fully confident that the Bank will make a positive and significant difference in Asia’s development.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to all member countries and in particular, to their Chief Negotiators, for their dedication and commitment throughout the Bank’s establishment process.

I would also like to thank members of MDB family, particularly the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank. Their support is most valuable. Please allow me to also note the dedication and commitment of the staff in the Chinese Ministry of Finance and at the Multilateral Interim Secretariat. The way that they have contributed to the Bank’s establishment defines enthusiasm, efficiency and effectiveness.

Finally, let me express my most profound thanks and appreciation to President Xi and the Government of the People’s Republic of China for their extraordinary support and visionary leadership in spearheading AIIB’s establishment.

Thank you.

Mr. Jin has served as AIIB’s President-designate since September 1, 2015. Prior to his selection as President-designate, Mr. Jin served as Secretary-General of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat, the entity tasked to prepare the legal, policy and administrative frameworks and undertake other preparatory work required for the establishment of AIIB. Prior to that, Mr. Jin was Chairman of China International Capital Corporation Limited, China’s first joint-venture investment bank.

From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Jin served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, China Investment Corporation (CIC). From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Jin served first as Deputy Chairman, and subsequently as Chairman of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF).

From 2003 to 2008, Mr. Jin was Vice President, and then Ranking Vice President, of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in charge of programs for South, Central and West Asia, and private sector operations. Mr. Jin joined the Ministry of Finance in 1980, where he served as Director General and Assistant Minister, and became Vice Minister in 1998. Mr. Jin was also a Member of the State Monetary Policy Committee. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jin served as Alternative Executive Director for China at the World Bank and at the Global Environment Facility as well as Alternative Governor for China at the ADB.

Mr. Jin holds an M. A. degree in English Literature from Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages (now Beijing Foreign Studies University). He was also a Hubert Humphrey Fellow in the Economics Graduate Program at Boston University from 1987 to 1988. He is a national of the People’s Republic of China.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a new multilateral financial institution founded to bring countries together to address the daunting infrastructure needs across Asia. By furthering interconnectivity and economic development in the region through advancements in infrastructure and other productive sectors, we can help stimulate growth and improve access to basic services.

• 50 Prospective Founding Members (PFMs) signed the Articles of Agreement on 29th June 2015
• 21 Asian countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing AIIB on 24 October, 2014 in Beijing