Italian experts welcome signing of China-led AIIB agreement

The signing of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) legal framework in Beijing on Monday was welcomed by Italian experts as the birth of an institution which can help the global competitiveness and economy.

"AIIB is part of China's project to gain an increasingly active role at the international level," noted Carlo Filippini, a political economics expert with Bocconi University in Milan.

AIIB, Filippini told Xinhua, will focus on infrastructures with an "incredible geographic horizon" along the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, or the "Belt and Road" initiatives, proposed by China to boost investment and exchanges between Asia and Europe and even Africa.

"Certainly this bank can help rebalance the global economy," Filippini said. But much will depend on how the AIIB projects will be contracted out, he stressed. "That is to say high level of transparency and lack of favoritism must be essential factors for the good of all members," he added.

The multilateral bank counts 57 prospective founding countries and has an authorized capital of 100 billion U.S. dollars, 75 percent of which will come from Asian countries. China is so far the single largest stakeholder, holding 26 percent of voting rights. India and Russia are the second and third largest, with 7.5 percent and 5.9 percent respectively.

Alberto Forchielli, managing partner at Mandarin Capital Partners private equity firm, told Xinhua: "AIIB had a great start with a modern statute which makes a sharp departure from some long-standing practices at U.S.-backed international lenders such as the World Bank."

"AIIB has reduced excessive costs, heavy bureaucracy and political influence, for example by avoiding a permanent board and a too marked veto power," he noted. In his view, China has sacrificed itself by adopting a "generous attitude." "China has accepted to weigh less in AIIB than China's investment in the bank would have allowed the country to weigh," he said.

Forchielli said AIIB is not a profit instrument for China, "which in fact had no need of money from other countries to create AIIB," but a showcase of the country's "capacity to reach international consensus."

"When AIIB was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, I said it was a necessary institution and the United States did wrong by not joining. But frankly I did not expect that AIIB would be established in details so quickly," Forchielli went on saying. In his view, it will take three or four years for AIIB to have a real impact on the global economy.

AIIB will be very positive for Europe, according to Carlo Montenovesi, chairman of Milan-based mergers and acquisitions company Cross Border. "AIIB means more investment in the infrastructural sector, therefore reduction of credit access cost and progress, also in key sectors like health," he said.

Italy in particular, Montenovesi explained to Xinhua, has strong companies in the infrastructural sector but lacks important infrastructural banks thus lacks adequate investments for projects, especially abroad. "Having new financing and business opportunities will be only an advantage for Italy," he stressed.

Montenovesi said he believes that AIIB will be a more transparent institution compared to many other banks, which is positive for global competition.

"China only has 26 percent, with other members also holding significant shares. In a sense, AIIB gives a cultural message of China's will for more transparency. I definitely see many positive aspects in AIIB," he said. Endit