PH joins AIIB board meeting
The Philippines is participating in the third annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) board of governors, the Finance department said, with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd representing the country in the gathering in Mumbai, India.
Dominguez delivered the Philippines’ statement during a business roundtable on Monday and will make a keynote speech during today’s Asian Infrastructure Forum (AIF) workshop, the department added.
This year’s meeting marks the launch of the AIF, “which aims to gather policy makers and experts involved in infrastructure development in practical and project-driven discussions that focus on matching innovative financing programs to critical infrastructure needs”.
Scheduled to join Dominguez in the workshop are Singaporean Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat; Indonesia’s Minister of National Development Planning, Bambang P.S. Brodjonegoro; Preeti Saran, Secretary (East) of India’s Ministry of External Affairs; and Kevan Watts, HSBC’s vice-chairman for global banking.
From Mumbai, the Finance chief will fly to Chennai to deliver the keynote speech upon the invitation of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. He will also discuss the Duterte administration’s bid to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth by modernizing infrastructure and developing human capital.
The AIIB’s first annual meeting was held in Beijing, China in 2016, while the second one was held in Jeju Island in South Korea in 2017. Headquartered in Beijing, the AIIB commenced operations in January 2016 and has now grown to 86 approved members from across the globe.
As of April 11 this year, its board had approved a total of $4.52 billion in funding for 26 infrastructure projects across Asia. In the Philippines, the Metro Manila Flood Management Project Phase is the first project co-financed by the AIIB with the World Bank.
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