AIIB stresses dialogue before starting projects for wider benefit

BOAO, China — The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) views dialogues with fund receivers as important before deciding on a specific project to benefit more people, its president said Saturday.

"When we push for investment in infrastructure, we make a point of having a dialogue with the government with regard to in which way this investment will benefit its people," Jin Liqun told the plenary session of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference.

"Our job is not just to put some money into a particular country to build roads or railways. We would like to see all the projects benefit people and to ensure people have more gains rather than losses from such investment," he said.

Jin talked about a "grand vision" to promote economic and social involvement across the world, as the objective behind all the efforts to enhance connectivity and growth in Asia.

The AIIB president said globalization is the current trend, and complaints and hatred will not undermine it.

"This is a shared vision of the 57 founding members of the AIIB, plus 13 new members and another 15 members joining the AIIB this year," he said.

They will work together to promote connectivity and investment in infrastructure to pave the way for shared results, added the president.

As to the sentiment that some people seemed to have suffered from a globalized economy, Jin said "there is no loser in the globalized economy."

Within one country or in a certain sector, those who lost their jobs should be supported by macro-economic and social policies of the government, he said.

The Boao Forum for Asia annual conference opened on Thursday at Boao, a seaside resort in the southern Chinese province of Hainan. The four-day event is focused on free trade and efforts against deglobalization.