China's new development bank can have an important role in fighting extreme poverty if it establishes high standards for its projects, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said today.
Vowing to work with an institution resisted by the United States, Dr Kim called the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) "a major new player in development" that is a "potentially strong" ally in its own work to help development in the poorest countries.
"If the world's multilateral banks, including the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank, can form alliances, work together, and support development that addresses these challenges, we all benefit - especially the poor and most vulnerable," Dr Kim said in a Washington speech.
Despite Washington's resistance, China has received applications from more than 50 countries, including important US allies, to join the AIIB, which will aim at financing infrastructure development around Asia.
The United States sees the AIIB and a development bank planned by the BRICS emerging-market countries, the New Development Bank, as competitors to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, where the United States is the largest shareholder.
In that case, he said, "the World Bank Group sees these development banks as potentially strong allies."
"I will do everything in my power to find innovative ways to work with these banks," he said.
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