A former Nigerian Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been appointed a member of the international advisory panel of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). 

Mr Song Liyan, AIIB Senior Communication Officer, in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday, announced that Okonjo-Iweala would join 10 other key persons on the panel. 

“The Panel provides impartial, objective and independent advice to the President, allowing the Bank to benefit from the international experience and expertise of panel members,” Liyan said. 

He quoted AIIB President, Jin Liqun, as saying that the panel members would advise the bank on the development of its strategy. “It is a great honour to convene such an experienced and diverse group of international leaders to advise on the development of the Bank’s strategy. 

“I have no doubt that the advice the panel provides will help shape the development of the Bank in the years ahead. “I could not ask for a better group of ambassadors to help promote our new Bank to the world,” Jin said. 

The panel members are former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Dr Zeti Aziz, former Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, and former Swedish finance minister Anders Borg. The others are former Timor-Leste finance minister Emilia Pires, former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Global Foundation secretary-general Steve Howard. 

Others include Korea National Diplomatic Academy chair professor and former South Korean deputy prime minister and strategy and finance minister Dr Oh-Seok Hyun. Former U.S. ambassador Paul Speltz and London School of Economics professor and former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-Hwa are the remaining panel members. 

AIIB, a multilateral international development bank was set up on Dec. 25, 2015, with an initial capital of 100 billion U.S. dollars (RM419bn), one million shares and an initial paid-up capital of 20 billion U.S. dollars. 

NAN