CRI听力:AIIB Will Always Welcome New Members: Chinese Official

A Chinese official says that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will always remain open to welcoming new members.

The official says this conforms to the AIIB's principle of inclusiveness and openness.

Vice Finance Minister Shi Yaobin made the statement ahead of Saturday's inaugural ceremony marking the AIIB's official opening.

Shi said the founding members will be included in the negotiations and approval of any future agreements.

"Once they join in, the new members can only obey the agreements but have no rights to modify them. If the agreements need to be modified, it should be carried out by the super-majority of the Boards of Directors. Besides the shared voting rights and the basic voting rights, the founding members also have 600 voting qualifications as founder members, while the other new members won't have that."

Shi added that the founding members will have priority to nominate a director or deputy director of a sub-region, while new members must undergo an election process.

Except for the three points above, Shi Yaobin said that founding members and new members basically have the same obligations, responsibilities and rights according to the agreements of the AIIB.

For more on the AIIB, CRI’s Spencer Musik spoke earlier with Liu Baocheng, professor from the University of International Business and Economics.