The Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) held its inaugural meeting on the 16th of this month in Beijing under the aegis of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake represented Sri Lanka at this inaugural meeting. Finance Ministers and financial experts from 57 regional and non-regional Prospective Founding Members of the bank attended the inaugural meeting of the Board of Governors which is due to end today(18).

The meeting was of special significance to Sri Lanka as it presented another opportunity to showcase the country’s development potential to the international community.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Minister Ravi Karunanayake held separate meetings with finance ministers of several countries who took part in the Board of Governors meeting and their discussions mainly focused on the economic development plans of Sri Lanka.

The AIIB, proposed as an initiative by the government of China, was established as a new multilateral financial institution aimed at providingfinancialsupport for infrastructure development and regional connectivity in Asia.