Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said in a series of interviews with Australian and international media on Monday and Tuesday that Australia is confident of the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's (AIIB) structure and its decision making mechanism.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Hockey said Australia has the capacity to be a major beneficiary of new infrastructure, especially in Asia-Pacific region where there has an eight- trillion-U.S. dollar infrastructure shortfall over the next 10 years.
As for the U.S. concerns about the structure of the AIIB, Hockey said, "We went into negotiations in good faith hoping to ensure that the bank had the best corporate governance principles of any major multilateral bank and they've actually got that."
"We're satisfied that when it comes to issues like ensuring that minority shareholders are not oppressed, there are protections now in place ensuring the directors make the decisions about where the money goes. Those arrangements are in place. And importantly, it's not dominated by any single shareholder," he told Bloomberg.
Hockey was in Beijing Monday to sign an agreement that outlines the framework and management structure for the institution for Australia. Australia has announced to commit 930 million AU dollars (718 million U.S. dollars) as paid-in capital to the bank over five years.
In an interview with the Australian newspaper, he said, "China has been through an unprecedented development over the past three decades and now it is in a position to facilitate and work with the organizations like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank."
"China wants to help the world and the directors of the bank are the decision-makers," he added.
The Australian Financial Review quoted Hockey as saying it is vitally important that Canberra was involved in the AIIB.
"At the moment, one of the impediments to our growth in the region is a lack of infrastructure in importing countries," he said, "If we can get ports built in India that can take our gas ships and if we get railway lines built in Indonesia to help transport agricultural produce or other exports, it all works to our great benefit."
