New Alliance: Iran, UAE Become Members of Chinese Development Bank

Iran and the United Arab Emirates have been accepted as founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), proposed by the Chinese government and expected to start its work at the end of 2015.

China’s development bank is rapidly growing as it has enlarged its roster of founding members by two more countries, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The two countries followed China, India and major EU states, raising the number of founding members up to 35. The founding members have the right to determine future rules for the bank’s work and play major roles in the decision-making process.

The US had long tried to prevent their allies from joining the AIIB but without success. The establishment of the bank has been approved by a vast majority of countries across the world as the US has failed to restructure the existing institutions such as the IMF in accordance with new geopolitical realities, Laurence Summers, President of Harvard University and former US Secretary of the Treasure, said.

Russia announced its decision to join the AIIB on March 28.

The AIIB was founded in 2014 and is designed to finance infrastructure projects in the Asia Pacific region.