“The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the first multilateral financial institution launched by China…opened for business on Jan. 16, as the Asia Times reported.
The AIIB’s mandate will be to fund [infrastructure] development both inside and outside of Asia. “From 2010 to 2020, Asian countries will need $800 billion to invest in infrastructure construction every year, according to data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)”, the report detailed.
But according to the ADB, the “World Bank and the ADB [would] have a hard time meeting the huge demand for infrastructure investment.” 57 countries are members of AIIB, 19 of which are in Asia. The first loans from AIIB are expected to be approved by the middle of this year, according to People’s Daily.
Lawyers can benefit from AIIB and One-Belt One Road (OBOR)
The AIIB, along with China’s One-Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, are among a series of state-sponsored initiatives which are hastening the growth of Chinese outbound investments and cross-border deals. This development was the focus of a recent symposium at Harvard Law School. And Finbarr Bermingham, Hong Kong-based Editor of the Global Trade Review tweeted from the Asian Financial Forum today that. “Hong Kong positioning itself as a quasi nerve centre for #OBOR. Wants to do *all* the contracts, all the paperwork, all the money #AFF16“
