Jin Liqun, the newly elected first president of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said China as the biggest shareholder is obliged to provide full support for the institution and set to win the trust and confidence of other shareholders.
Addressing a lecture at the Copenhagen Business School on Wednesday afternoon, Jin said AIIB is a bank owned collectively by 57 member countries and it is "not a tool of the Chinese government".
"AIIB sets the governance structure that is approved by all the founding members. As long as we follow the governance structure, as long as we operate this bank as a truly international financial institution, it certainly could not be the tool of the Chinese government," Jin said.
China, being the biggest shareholder, is obliged to provide all kinds of support for smooth operation of the institution, he said.
"It's not your privilege, it's not your right, it's your duty and it's your responsibility," Jin said.
"As long as China follows this line and complies with all the rules, I think China will have no difficulty in winning the trust and confidence of all the other shareholders, members of the international community and even several countries that are not members of the institution," Jin said.
The AIIB was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 and officially established late last year. Headquartered in Beijing, it has an authorized capital of 100 billion U.S. dollars.
Jin explained to the audience that AIIB covers all the developing member countries with regards to financing. He noted that AIIB can support OBOR (One Belt, One Road) projects, but these projects should measure up to the standards of the bank, "and we should also balance the financing across the countries, regions and sectors."
Jin said as a responsible member of the international community, China should do something which has never been done before.
"China wants to initiate a bank that will follow the international best practice. This is the reason behind the creation of such a bank," he said.
Jin said the vision of AIIB is to create an institution that is efficient, free from corruption and environmentally responsible. "As we call it, the bank should be lean, clean and green."
He explained that essentially AIIB is a multilateral development bank (MDB).
"AIIB is not the clone or copy of any existing institutions. It should be a new one. But still it is not something very different from MDBs. We should keep its identity as MDB, but we should be different. So AIIB is going to do different things, and should be doing things differently," Jin said.
He said the object of AIIB is to foster sustainable economic development, create wealth and improve infrastructure connectivity in Asia by investing in infrastructure and other productive sectors.
"I think AIIB can contribute to the connectivity in the vast Eurasia land," he said, adding that the natural connectivity of Eurasia should be enhanced by the modern facilities such as railways and expressways, so that the cost of doing business between European countries and Asian countries can be lowered.
Jin said five vice presidents of the bank have been nominated to the board, and the management team will be in place before May.
"Our current priorities for the bank include recruiting managers and staff, institutionalizing the operational, financial and administrative policies of the bank," he said.
Wednesday's lecture was jointly organized by CBS and University of Copenhagen, Denmark's two prestigious universities.
Jin said Denmark and Finland are two countries he visited right after he was elected as president of AIIB, as Nordic countries offer a lot for Asian countries to learn.
He said AIIB attaches great importance to all the shareholders, big or small. "AIIB is very privileged and pleased to have Nordic countries as well as other European countries to be the shareholders. You'll be the best guardian of AIIB governance, you will be the best guardian to this institution," Jin said.
He said he noticed that the governments of Nordic countries have been vigorously promoting green economy.
"AIIB should also do a good job in promoting green economy to develop infrastructure and economy without leaving a big footprint in ecosystem and in the environment," Jin said.
