Signing of MoU in October
Dhaka has agreed in principle to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiated by China to give loans to its member countries for meeting construction costs of the much-needed infrastructures. Economic relations division secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin disclosed the government’s decision while talking to reporters after a meeting with finance minister AMA Muhith at the latter’s secretariat office on Wednesday.
Muhith chaired the meeting to finalise the country’s position after reviewing opinions of the key ministries and the Bangladesh Bank.
The Bangladesh Bank governor and secretaries of the finance division and bank and financial institutions division attended it.
BB governor Atiur Rahman was positive from the very beginning about Bangladesh becopming a member of the proposed bank.
China announced the establishment of the bank early this year. This will be a regional development bank with an authorized capital of US$ 100 billion. The initial subscribed capital for each of the willing member countries will be US$ 50 million
The economic relations division backed the formation of the regional bank and strongly recommended that Dhaka should join the new venture to promote the country’s poor infrastructure and spur the stalled regional connectivity.
Mejbahuddin said Dhaka will sign the memorandum of understating for joining the bank in October.
He said the MoU would pave the way for the signatory countries to work out modus operandi of the bank.
He said more than 20 Asian countries including India and South Korea had already shown interest to join the bank. Japan, third largest global economic power house, was yet to take any decision, he said.
A Trust Fund will be created under the proposed AIIB to mobilize resources to invest in the infrastructure network of regional countries. The countries to sign MoUs will be the founding members of the bank, which may have regional offices apart from its headquarters to be set up in a country of consensus among the AIIB members.
The governance structure of the proposed regional bank will be of three tiers — board of governors, board of directors and bank management. The board of directors will be non-resident, while alternate director will be chosen from directors of the bank.
Bangladesh is now member of development banks like ADB and the World Bank.
Last month, Dhaka also decided to join the proposed new multilateral bank, initiated by BRICS nations.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa who are known as BRICS signed an agreement on July 15 in Fortaleza, Brazil, to establish the bank with an initial authorised capital of US$ 100 billion.
It has been said China is active to establish both the banks to challenge the dominance of World Bank and International Monetary Fund which mainly serve the interest of the Western countries.
-With New Age input
