Argentine economist says joining the AIIB would be greatly beneficial

Argentina would greatly benefit from joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new institution promoted by China, said an Argentinean economist.

In an interview with Xinhua, Gustavo Girado, director of the Asia & Argentina (A&A) consultancy, said that the AIIB is a privileged platform for economic cooperation to help make the infrastructure along the Belt and Road a reality.

The expert anticipated that Argentina will benefit from future expansions of the AIIB.

"If the AIIB grows internationally as an entity capable of making investments and financing projects among its members on all continents, this could be very beneficial for Argentina, given the extraordinary institutional structure the AIIB is revealing," he added.

He also said that the "idea of an economic belt along the Silk Road has brought a new image to relations with China."

"This Belt will connect -- by land and sea -- Central Asia with Southern Asia and Southeast Asia with Western Asia, allowing these sub-regions to exchange products, complement each other, establish and consolidate Asia's supply chain and value chain and take Asia-Pacific regional cooperation to the next level," Girado said.

The AIIB was created in 2015 to finance infrastructure projects in Asia and to act as a complementary to other institutions such as the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank.

Of the 57 founding members, around 20 are Western countries, including Britain, Germany and France. Canada has just applied to join in the institution in August.

In December, the AIIB President Jin Liqun announced that the bank planned to extend loans of between 10 billion to 15 billion U.S. dollars annually in its first years. Endi