Beijing, China (BBN) – Bangladesh along with 20 other countries on Friday signed an agreement to become founding members of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to aid the infrastructure development in the Asian region.
Representatives of the 21 nations inked the agreement at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
 Bangladesh was represented by State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan, who signed the Memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the country.
The new Bank would fund the construction of roads, railways, power plants and telecommunications networks in Asia to keep the region’s economy growing, according to reports.
China’s Vice Finance Minister Jin Liqun, who was also the former Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank, has been appointed as the Secretary General of AIIB.
The Bank, to be headquartered in Beijing, is expected to be operational by next year.
The MoU specifies that the authorized capital of AIIB is US$ 100 billion and the initial subscribed capital is expected to be around US$ 50 billion. The paid-in ratio will be 20 percent.
Voting rights are to be decided after consultations among the members over fixing the bench marks which were expected to be combination of GDP and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
Based on this formula, India will be second largest share holder of the bank after China, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The AIIB is in addition to the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Development Bank formed this year, which will be based in Shanghai. It is set to commence its operations with an Indian as its President.
Besides India and China, other AIIB members are Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Qatar, Oman, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Brunei, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia and Myanmar.

BBN/SSR/AD-24Oct14-8:28 pm (BST)