Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance, headed the Saudi delegation to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) meetings, accompanied by Eng. Yusuf bin Ibrahim Al-Bassam, Vice President and Managing Director of the Saudi Fund for Development, and Dr. Sulaiman bin Mohammed Al-Turki, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance for International Financial Affairs.

Fifty countries signed the charter for the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, based on an initiative launched last year in 2014, and Saudi Arabia is likely to play a major and influential role in it. The bank has a capital of $100 billion and will begin operations by next December. It is expected to help finance infrastructure projects in Asia, which suffers from a severe shortage of funding in this area, particularly in the water and energy sectors.

Australia was the first founding member to initial the document establishing the legal framework for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank during a ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square. It was followed by 49 other countries in signing the document, bringing the current number of founding members to 50. Seven additional countries—which were represented at the signing ceremony but did not participate—are expected to join by the end of the year: namely Denmark, Poland, South Africa, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “Our initiative is designed to meet the needs for infrastructure development in Asia and to deepen regional cooperation,” describing the signing ceremony as “a milestone of historic significance.”

After launching the project at the end of 2014, China succeeded in bringing a number of Western countries on board, while the United States and Japan—the world’s first and third largest economies, respectively—declined to participate in the project.

According to Agence France-Presse, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will serve as a counterweight to the dominance of the United States and Japan over the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

China will play a dominant role in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will be headquartered in Beijing, as it is the largest contributor, far surpassing other countries with a share of approximately 30 percent of the bank’s capital.

This share allows China to hold 26 percent of the voting rights, according to the Chinese government, giving it a “blocking minority,” as some structural decisions require a 75 percent majority of the votes.

India is the second-largest contributor to the bank with 8.4 percent, followed by Russia with 6.5 percent, and among the non-Asian founding members, Germany is the largest contributor with 4.5 percent, followed by France with 3.4 percent and Brazil with 3.2 percent.