The newly launched $100-billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Belt andRoad Initiative - two ambitious projects spearheaded by the nation - will provide the impetus forglobal economic growth in a likely challenging 2016.
The optimism was shared on Monday by top officials from the mainland and Hong Kong, as wellas European and Asian ministers and businessmen at this year's Asian Financial Forum (AFF) inHong Kong.
Amid the current geopolitical unrest, volatile financial markets, slumping commodity prices andfaltering growth in China and in Asia, "it remains a challenge for the world to have a sustainableeconomic recovery," said Vincent Lo Hong-sui, chairman of the Hong Kong Trade DevelopmentCouncil.
However, the Chinese mainland and Asia still prove to be the most powerful growth engines forthe world economy, albeit at a slower pace, with the high-profile AIIB and Belt and Road projectsserving as "another key driver", he said.
The AIIB, which was formally set up in December last year with 57 members, including majoreconomies such as India and Russia, officially opened for business on Saturday.
With an authorized capital of $100 billion, the new multilateral financial institution is expected toloan out between $10 billion and $15 billion annually in the first five or six years. And China, byfar the largest AIIB shareholder with a voting share of 26.06 percent, will invest an additional $50 billion in the bank.
Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin told the forum the Beijing-based AIIB, which aims tomake and facilitate investments in infrastructure projects across the region and the globe, willgive Asian and global economies a fresh boost.
Liu emphasized that the AIIB and the Belt and Road Initiative do not have any conflict of interestwith the US-led World Bank, the Japan-led Asian Development Bank, the International MonetaryFund or the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
European and Asian ministers attending the forum are pinning high hopes on China's much-discussed initiatives.
Russia - the third largest AIIB shareholder after China and India - would like the new bank andthe Belt and Road project to vitalize the whole region's economies. Banking on the brand-newfinancial institution and its institutional establishment, Russia expects to brace itself for a newround of development, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said at the forum.
"Hopefully, we'll have the first loans meted out within six months," he said.
Kiatchai Sophastienphong - Thailand's vice-minister for finance - reiterated his confidence in thetwo initiatives. As China is actively working on promoting the AIIB's status, he believed it willdirectly help a good many multilateral and simultaneous projects fall to the ground.
In his opening address at the AFF, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying noted that the AIIB, 40 percent of whose members come from the G20 countries and 60 percent hailing from Asia, willundoubtedly have a tremendous impact on, and spell a world of opportunities for, regional andglobal economies.
As a world-renowned financial hub in Asia, Hong Kong will continue to polish its brand as a"super-connector" in the region and seek to play a bigger part in the initiatives, he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, Victor Vekselberg, president of Skolkovo Foundation andchairman of Renova Group, said he appreciated the exchange and trade agreements signedbetween Russia and Hong Kong, which give Russian companies more opportunities and accessto the broad Asian markets.
Anticipating stronger cooperation between Russia and the SAR, Vekselberg noted the city couldstrengthen its role as a link between Russia and Asian markets, of which China comes first. Dvorkovich told the forum that Russia and Hong Kong will start talks very soon on a free tradedeal.
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