The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced Saturday that its membership has been expanded to 77 after its Board of Governors approved new applications from seven countries. [Special coverage]
Jin Liqun, AIIB president, said that three of the new members are "regional" -- Bahrain, Cyprus, and Samoa. The other four are non-regional prospective members, namely Bolivia, Chile, Greece and Romania.
The seven prospective members also need to complete the required domestic processes and deposit their first installment of capital with the AIIB before officially joining the bank.
The bank announced the introduction of its first 13 new members this March, bringing the bank's total membership to 70 from 57 signatories at its launch in January 2016.
New members are welcomed to join the bank this year, it pledged.
