Official website of the President of Russia

Документ   /

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is an international financial organisation that currently unites 57 founder countries. The bank’s charter states that its main goals are to facilitate infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region and reduce the economic development gap.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends, allow me to welcome you here.

As we all know, Russia has joined the work of this bank, which was founded on the initiative of the People’s Republic of China. Russia ranks third after China and India in the size of its contribution to the bank’s capital.

We think this is a timely, important and useful initiative, and we hope very much that under your leadership this bank will take up a worthy place among the world’s international financial institutions, complementing the IMF and the World Bank.

We know that you are committed to having the bank operate in a market environment. You are an experienced and reputed professional, and so this is sure to be the case.

We hope that the bank will work with good effect in developing the infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region above all. We can propose a number of interesting projects in the Russian Federation: expanding the Trans-Siberian Railway, developing the Northern Sea Route, and developing the special economic zones in Russia’s Far East.

Mr Jin, we wish you success. You can count on our all-round support.

President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Jin Liqun (retranslated): Your Excellency President Putin, it is a great pleasure to meet with you. I remember that we last met four years ago at a forum in Moscow.

You are a very effective and strong ruler for Russia and you enjoy constant, broad respect in China. The current global economic situation is a challenge for some countries, and probably for Russia too, but we are sure that under your effective leadership, Russia will overcome all difficulties.

I remember that at the forum where we last met, I said in my speech on that occasion that the Russian economy needs to diversify and free itself from its dependence on energy resources. I remember that you fully supported my words.

Mr President, thank you very much for your best wishes. I am sure that with the support of all of our shareholders and all founder countries we will be up to the task and will pursue effective cooperation.

Russia is one of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s biggest shareholders, coming in third, and so we certainly hope for Russia’s support for all of the bank’s undertakings.

I would like to thank you for finding the time to meet with me despite your busy schedule, and I want to congratulate you on the very successful start of this Russia-ASEAN summit.

In reality, close cooperation between Russia and the ASEAN countries is already in itself support for our bank.

<…>