G7 wish Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank success

All the Group of Seven countries wished the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) success despite their different positions, said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Friday.

Schaeuble made the well wishes at a press conference in Dresden after ministers and central bank chiefs from the seven leading industrialized countries concluded their three-day meeting in the eastern German city.

Schaeuble told reporters there was a need for the bank proposed by China as it "covers an additional need that today's institutions do not sufficiently cover."

Representatives from AIIB's 57 founding members, including four G7 countries, agreed on the bank's charter in Singapore last week. The bank was scheduled to be officially established in Beijing at the end of 2015 and to start financing infrastructure construction in Asia.

Media reported in April that Canada, one of the three G7 absentees at the Singapore meeting, was actively considering joining the bank.

Schaeuble admitted there were different positions on the bank among the G7 countries, but he had told his colleagues that to avoid conflicts, the G7 should "speak with one voice."

When asked whether Germany would mediate an inclusion of the United States and Japan in AIIB, Schaeuble said: "There are no rules at international institutions wherein if you are not a member right away, you can't join later." Endit