AIIB membership

�Non-payment of subscription behind delay�

Despite Finance Minister AMA Muhith having stated that Bangladesh did not obtain membership of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as it did not have the law ratified in Parliament, the Economic Relations Division (ERD) yesterday informed the cabinet that not getting membership is due to non-fulfillment of financial liability. This was revealed as part of the summary prepared by ERD and placed before the cabinet meeting yesterday. According to the ERD summary, Bangladesh’s share is 6605 (each share being $100,000) and subscription is $660.50 million, of which paid share is $132.10 million and callable share is $528.40 million. Upon his return from China earlier, Muhith said that Bangladesh has not obtained membership of the newly-launched Asian infrastructure. “Our membership request has been rejected for the time being as we have not had AIIB law ratified in Parliament. But Bangladesh remains an observer of the bank,” he said. Muhith said they were unaware of the urgency of ratification and admitted that it was “failure and negligence” on their part. “We attended the last meeting in China in October to discuss setting up of AIIB. But we didn’t follow up the matter,” he said.
During the meeting with Muhith, AIIB President Jin Liqun assured that Bangladesh is on the right track in terms of ensuring sustainable development and is therefore ready to provide support to infrastructure projects in Bangladesh before other countries, according to the summary. Jin had said that as Bangladesh was one of the first countries to join AIIB, it would be considered one of the founding members of the bank. “We are looking forward to having close cooperation with Bangladesh. Bangladesh stands in a very good position to work with AIIB,” Jin had said.
Already, two projects relating to power and railways are in the process of being placed in the first board meeting of AIIB. The law to become a member of AIIB is likely to be ratified by Parliament in the ongoing winter session, said Muhith.

AIIB membership

�Non-payment of subscription behind delay�

Despite Finance Minister AMA Muhith having stated that Bangladesh did not obtain membership of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as it did not have the law ratified in Parliament, the Economic Relations Division (ERD) yesterday informed the cabinet that not getting membership is due to non-fulfillment of financial liability. This was revealed as part of the summary prepared by ERD and placed before the cabinet meeting yesterday. According to the ERD summary, Bangladeshs share is 6605 (each share being $100,000) and subscription is $660.50 million, of which paid share is $132.10 million and callable share is $528.40 million. Upon his return from China earlier, Muhith said that Bangladesh has not obtained membership of the newly-launched Asian infrastructure. Our membership request has been rejected for the time being as we have not had AIIB law ratified in Parliament. But Bangladesh remains an observer of the bank, he said. Muhith said they were unaware of the urgency of ratification and admitted that it was failure and negligence on their part. We attended the last meeting in China in October to discuss setting up of AIIB. But we didnt follow up the matter, he said. During the meeting with Muhith, AIIB President Jin Liqun assured that Bangladesh is on the right track in terms of ensuring sustainable development and is therefore ready to provide support to infrastructure projects in Bangladesh before other countries, according to the summary. Jin had said that as Bangladesh was one of the first countries to join AIIB, it would be considered one of the founding members of the bank. We are looking forward to having close cooperation with Bangladesh. Bangladesh stands in a very good position to work with AIIB, Jin had said. Already, two projects relating to power and railways are in the process of being placed in the first board meeting of AIIB. The law to become a member of AIIB is likely to be ratified by Parliament in the ongoing winter session, said Muhith.