Egypt to pay $26 mln first tranche in China-led AIIB’s capital soon

The first tranche of Egypt’s commitment to China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)’s capital will amount to around $26 million, Egyptian international cooperation minister announced Sunday.

Egypt’s total commitment to the AIIB’s capital is $650 million approximately, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr told Amwal Al Ghad on Sunday.

AIIB’s board of directors have approved Egypt’s request to pay half of its contribution in the AIIB’s capital in Egyptian pound, she added.

Nasr further said her country would pay the first installment very soon.

The contributions will be made over 10 years, she said in earlier statement.

Egypt will be an AIIB active member after sending the first tranche of its contribution to the bank’s capital, she stated.

Egypt signed earlier on June 29, 2015 an article of agreement to contribute to AIIB’s capital. Nasr discussed then on the sidelines of the AIIB inauguration ceremony, with the bank’s chairman Jin Liqun the future of cooperation between the Bank and Egypt and tackled the priorities of the government’s economic and social programme for the current period.

First proposed by President Xi Jinping two years ago, the bank has become one of China’s biggest foreign policy successes. Despite the opposition of Washington, major U.S. allies such as Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Philippines and South Korea have joined.

AIIB was formally established at the end of 2015 with 57 countries agreeing to be members, 19 of which are Asian, according to the bank’s website.

The capital of the bank is $100 billion, equivalent to 2⁄3 of the capital of the Asian Development Bank and about half that of the World Bank.

The AIIB’s mandate will be to fund projects both inside and outside of Asia.