S.Korea to actively participate in AIIB establishment consultations

South Korea will actively participate in consultations on establishing the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Finance Ministry said Friday

"(The ministry) will make best efforts to gain as much as national interests in consultations about the make-up of the AIIB equity," Choi Hee-nam, Deputy Finance Minister for international economic affairs, told a press briefing in Busan where the 56th annual meeting of the board of governors of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is being held.

"Going forward, (the ministry) will actively participate in the process of the AIIB establishment and try to raise our voice," said Choi.

His comments came after the ministry announced its decision on Thursday night to jointly set up the AIIB as one of founding members. Besides China, now 35 countries have joined or expressed interest in joining in the AIIB.

Choi said South Korea could get a merit of reflecting national interests in the process of the AIIB establishment as the country decided to join the AIIB before the deadline ends on March 31.

The AIIB equity is known to be distributed according to each member's economic power, but uncertainties remain about how many shares the country can get as other factors should be considered, the deputy minister noted.