More countries can still ask to join the AIIB, but will not have the right to founder status, that allows them to participate in defining the new bank’s rules.
The USA, Japan and Canada are not involved in the project, but among the other founder members are great global economic powers such as Germany, France, the UK, Italy, South Korea and Russia.
Washington initially saw the bank as a challenge to the international financial order, in competition with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
The bank’s objective is to fund the construction of infrastructures in the Asia-Pacific region, which, according to some estimates are going to cost eight trillion dollars over the next decade.
Brazil is the only South American country on the list and there are only two from Africa (South Africa and Egypt).
The new bank will be formally established this year with an initial capital of $50 billion and its head offices are to be in Beijing.