More European countries to join AIIB

The membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is set to expand further, with France, Germany and Italy reported to have all agreed to join the China-proposed institution, reports Xinhua from Beijing.

The decision of the three European countries, which was revealed by British newspaper The Financial Times and yet to be officially announced, came in the wake of Britain’s application last week to be a founding member of the 50-billion-U.S.-dollar bank. Meanwhile, Australian leaders have been lining up in the past few days to voice support for joining the AIIB, which marks a conspicuous U-turn from the cabinet’s previous stance.

“Our position all along has been that we are happy to be part of some thing which is a genuine multilateral institution such as the World Bank, such as the Asia Development Bank,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said during an interview with Sky News over the weekend.

In addition, South Korea, Switzerland and Luxembourg have reportedly been pondering whether to join the new international initiative.