OREANDA-NEWS. President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka, has welcomed the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), noting that it would be an important partner in closing infrastructure gaps in Asia and Africa.

Speaking during a farewell visit in Beijing, Kaberuka said the new instrument is a welcome complement to the work of other multilateral development finance institutions. “Once the new bank has put in place its new business plans, we will be in a better position to determine specific areas of cooperation, he said.”

Kaberuka met with Mr. Jin Liqun, head of the AIIB, as well as the newly elected president of the New Development Bank of BRICS countries, Kundapur Vaman Kamath.

President Kaberuka also met Chinese authorities, as well as heads of Central Bank, Silk Road fund, Exim Bank, China Development Bank, China Investment Corporation, among others. He gave a lecture on “Investment Opportunities in Africa” at the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing.

China joined the AfDB in 1982, and subsequently the African Development Fund in 1985. The AfDB has signed various MOUs with Chinese institutions including Exim Bank, China Development Bank, and the Agricultural Bank of China. All these work on optimizing each other’s comparative advantages and financial instruments to foster Africa’s development, particularly in the areas of infrastructure and private sector.

China hosted the AfDB’s 2007 annual meetings. In May 2014, it created a ten-year US \\$ 2 billion Africa Growing Together Fund. The money is to be used alongside AfDB’s resources to finance eligible sovereign and non-sovereign guaranteed development projects in Africa.