Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said it was untrue that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) had been set up to expand Chinese influence among Asian countries.
“We had seen the same situation prevail when the World Bank was set up in Washington; some people hinted it was an extension of imperialism of the United States of America,” the finance minister said regarding Bangladesh’s decision to join the new China-led bank.
Muhith made the comments to reporters after meeting with British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development Lynne Featherstone at his secretariat office yesterday.
The minister added: “We have to protect our interest after joining the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, because the country badly needs fund for building its huge infrastructures.”
Regarding confrontations between the AIIB and the World Bank, Muhith said: “We will see good cooperation between two multilateral agencies in the course of time.
“Look at the situation when the Asian Development Bank was established in the early sixties, which had to face one kind of struggle because countries who are members of the new bank need to take their parliament’s consent.”
Muhith also said the World Bank was established in 1944, but needed four years before it could disburse loan to its member countries.
On Friday, Bangladesh formally signed a memorandum of understanding with the AIIB to become a part of the bank, which is slated to start operations at the end of 2015.
