December 21 (SeeNews) - The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's (AIIB) board of governors has approved the membership application of Serbia, the lender said.
The board approved the membership applications of five more countries - Algeria, Ghana, Libya, Morocco and Togo, bringing the AIIB’s total approved membership to 93, the bank said in a statement earlier this week.
The six prospective members will officially join AIIB once they complete the required domestic processes and deposit the first capital installment with the bank. Shares allocated to the new prospective members come from AIIB’s existing pool of unallocated shares, it said.
"Within three years AIIB’s membership has increased from the 57 founders to 93 approved members from almost every continent. This shows the commitment of our members to multilateral cooperation and strengthens AIIB’s role in the international financial community," the AIIB Vice President and Corporate Secretary Danny Alexander said in the statement.
The growing membership of the bank in Europe and Africa also reflects the importance for growth and development of inter-regional connectivity, especially sustainable infrastructure that opens access to new markets in Asia and beyond, Alexander added.
Beijing-headquartered AIIB is a multilateral development bank which began operations in January 2016 with the aim of investing in sustainable infrastructure.