CRI听力:New UK Ambassador: Joining AIIB Benefits Asia-Pacific

Barbara Woodward, Britain's first female ambassador to China, says Britian's investment in the AIIB is a dual-track approach.

"The first way is because the UK has some quite practical experience in infrastructure development. And the second is because we are also have experience of international and regional financial institutions, so the European investment bank, for example, is another financial institution we're members of. So we are very keen to bring that expertise to the AIIB and help shape it to become a leading financial institution of its kind."

Her position is being backed by a number of observers in the UK.

David Marsh is the managing director and co-chair of the London-based Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum.

"It's a two-way street as well, because Britain is a hub for renminbi trading and wants to remain that way, but also there's lots of British investment, British prowess in different ways engineering companies, software, not just manufacturing, also services going into China. So it's a two-way street I think in technology and in investment."

Britain became the first European country to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank last week.

France, Italy and Germany have since announced they're applying to join the bank as the founding members.

The Chinese government is lauding the decision by Europe's leading economies to become part of the AIIB.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei.

"Both the goal and the operational principles of the AIIB are conducive to Asia's development. It will improve the global multilateral financial mechanisms, and benefit Asian people. Since the initiative was put forward, it has been supported by many countries, which shows its strong vitality."

Applications to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank remain open until the end of this month
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So far around 30 countries have applied to be founding members.

The 50-billion US dollar initiative is expected to be formally established by the end of the year.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.