Putin hails AIIB as complement to int'l financial structure

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed the mechanism of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a complement to current international financial structure.

"We believe that it is a timely, important and useful initiative. We hope this financial institution will play a positive role in the structure of international financial institutions, and of course complement the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank," Putin said.

The president made the remarks at a meeting with the visiting president of the AIIB, Jin Liqun, here in Russia's Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

"We expect that the bank will efficiently work primarily in the field of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region," Putin was quoted by a Kremlin online transcript.

He suggested that the AIIB could work on projects in Russia, including the extension of the trans-Siberian railway, construction of the Northern Sea Route and special economic zones in Russia's Far East.

On his part, Jin thanked Putin for Russia's support for the AIIB, adding that the bank's work as well as the cooperation among all shareholders would become more effective through joint efforts.

As a new global multilateral financial institution headquartered in China's capital of Beijing, the AIIB aims to support infrastructure projects in Asia and has 57 prospective founding members with an authorized capital of 100 billion U.S. dollars.

The bank, which was formally established in Beijing in December last year, started operation in January. Endit