AIIB gains Kuroda endorsement
YOKOHAMA: Bank of Japan (BoJ) “Infrastructure needs are huge governor Haruhiko Kuroda yesterday and it’s simply not possible for welcomed the expansion the Asian Development Bank of China-led Asian Infrastructure (ADB) and the World Bank to fill Investment Bank (AIIB) as positive the gap completely,” said Kuroda, for the regional economy, who was formerly head of the urging multinational lenders to ADB, at a seminar hosted by an cooperate in meeting Asia’s fastgrowing ADB-affiliated think tank. infrastructure He said healthy competition from Chinese, Indian and needs. Japanese initiatives could be positive for improving infrastructure and boosting economic growth.
Kuroda’s remarks are the strongest endorsement to date by a Japanese policymaker for AIIB, which some in Tokyo see as a vehicle to boost China’s regional clout.
They also come ahead of the ADB’s 50th annual meeting, here, at the weekend, where its 67 members are set to seek ways to differentiate
the ADB from rival lenders such as the AIIB.
The AIIB has been viewed as a rival to the Western-dominated World Bank and the ADB, which is jointly led by the United States and Japan.
The US is not a member, but many US allies, including Canada, Britain, Germany, Australia and South Korea, have joined.
Japan, following Washington’s lead under then-US president Barack Obama, did not join the AIIB as well, partly from concern it would conflict with the ADB, the Manila-based institution dominated by Japan and the US.
“The ADB has promoted regional cooperation in Asia. It also tried to link regional initiatives with each other. That is the way we should go forward, rather than making a single Asia programme or an Asia initiative,” said Kuroda. Reuters