China welcomes countries to join the AIIB: spokesman

China on Tuesday welcomed interested parties to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a daily press briefing while commenting on a report saying France, Germany and Italy had agreed to join the China-proposed institution.

"The AIIB is an open and inclusive multilateral organization. We welcome interested countries to join it," Hong said.

He added that China is ready to work with all sides to make the AIIB a reciprocal and efficient platform.

The decision by the three countries was revealed by British newspaper The Financial Times and has yet to be officially announced. The revelation came in the wake of Britain's application last week to be a founding member of the bank with an initial subscribed capital of 50 billion U.S.dollars.

Meanwhile, Australian leaders have been lining up over the past few days to voice support for joining the AIIB.

The AIIB, an international financial institution that will provide support to infrastructure projects in Asia, is expected to be formally established by the end of this year.

Lou Jiwei, China's Minister of Finance, said on March 6 that 27 countries had applied to jointly build the bank as founding members. The application deadline is on March 31.