China welcomes Egypt's application to AIIB

BEIJING -- China has welcomed the application of Egypt to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Monday, one day before the deadline to join the bank as a founding member.

Egypt will become a founding member on April 14, should all existing members approve, according to a statement on the Finance Ministry's website.

The total number of applicants awaiting approval is now 13.

The bank now has 30 prospective founding members, since Switzerland and Britain were formally accepted on March 28.

Founding members have the right to make the bank's governance and operation rules. Countries who join after the deadline will simply have voting rights, and less say in the rule-making process.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) announced its application on Friday, while Denmark filed its application on Saturday, and Australia on Sunday.

Joining the AIIB as a founding member will help ROK expand its financial and diplomatic influence in Asia and worldwide, ROK's Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in its application.

The AIIB originally had 21 founders including China, India and Singapore which signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last October in Beijing.

The bank is expected to be established by the end of this year.

The IMF, World Bank and other leading global lenders have all welcomed collaboration with the new bank to fill in Asia's infrastructure gap.