OSLO: Norway says it intends to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a prospective founding member in a move that could help the country’s frozen relations with China thaw.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende said the country wishes to join other countries to “further refining the structure and mission of the AIIB.”
Brende said the bank will help address a “widely acknowledged infrastructure funding gap in Asia” adding that the Chinese-led initiative “highlights the increasing weight of the new and emerging powers.”
Norway has actively promoted closer political and economic ties with the Asia–Pacific region, and our decision to join the Bank forms part of that strategy” he said.
Beijing proposed the creation of the bank in 2013 to finance infrastructure investments in developing Asian countries and has pledged to put up most of its initial $US50 billion ($A65 billion) in capital.
