FM Sitharaman urges AIIB to aid low-income nations

New Delhi: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) should continue to focus on a client-centric approach and facilitate member countries, particularly low-income countries to avail financial resources through technical assistance. Her statement came during a meeting with AIIB president Jin Liqun ahead of the 9th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).

“The Union Finance Minister suggested that @AIIBOfficial should continue strengthening its client centric approach and facilitate member countries, particularly Low-Income Countries to avail financial resources through technical assistance and other non-financial services,” the finance ministry said in a post on X.

“India being the second largest shareholder and the largest client, the AIIB President appreciated India's contributions to the governance and overall growth of the bank and expressed the desire to explore opportunities to further strengthen the ties with India,” the ministry added.

The Beijing-based multilateral development bank (AIIB), is focused on developing sustainable infrastructure in Asia and promoting investments in infrastructure and other productive sectors, with a view to fostering sustainable economic development, creating wealth, and improving infrastructure connectivity.

In January 2016, it became a founding member of AIIB along with 57 countries. While India owns 83,673 shares with a capital subscription of $8.4 billion in AIIB, China owns 297,804 shares with $29.8 billion capital subscription.

Earlier in the day, Ms Sitharaman also met her Qatar counterpart Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari and discussed bilateral trade, investments, digital public infrastructure and bilateral investment treaty (BIT) among others. Referring to the historic and deep-rooted relationship between India and Qatar, she said that India continues to engage with Qatar to strengthen the ties further.

“India remains the fastest-growing large economy in the world, which makes it an excellent destination for investment opportunities for Qatari entities in sectors like energy, infrastructure, logistics, hospitality, food security and startups etc,” she said.