Energy, transport and development projects will be priorities of AIIB - Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister

BEIJING, June 29. /TASS/. No specific future projects of the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) has been discussed to date but priorities were identified, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak told TASS on Monday after the signing ceremony of the bank’s establishment. "No specific projects were discussed. The vision of phases is discussed. The secretariat, shareholders and negotiators see the starting stage so far where projects in the field of energy and transport and development projects will be financed. The bank will more actively deal with railways, ports, airports and agriculture, that is, with more capital intensive projects, at a later stage. AIIB will finance small and medium business a bit later, probably by creating a special vehicle inside it," the deputy minister said. Russia signed today the agreement on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and received 65,362 shares in the bank and 5.92% of votes in the Bank. It becomes the third largest founder in terms of votes and shares after China and India, which hold 26.06% and 7.5% of votes accordingly. AIIB will be headquartered in Beijing. The financial institute will start operations already by the end of this year. Read more