LONDON/BEIJING, Dec 15 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has accepted China as a shareholder, another step forward in Beijing's ambitions to widen its international influence.
The green light by the bank's governors announced on Monday was expected and gives China a token but symbolic 0.1 percent stake in the EBRD and a new way of extending its global reach after its recent steps to boost trade links with Europe and Asia.
It also gives Beijing another foothold in an international organisation and takes the number of EBRD shareholder countries to 65.
"China's membership of the EBRD will open up significant further opportunities for sustainable investment by Chinese groups in the regions where the EBRD works," an EBRD statement quoted the bank's president, Suma Chakrabarti, as saying.
Established in 1991 to invest in the former Soviet bloc countries of eastern Europe, the EBRD has expanded its reach considerably in recent years.
It now invests in Mongolia, Turkey and the economies affected directly or indirectly by the Arab Spring such as Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan.
More recently it added euro zone crisis countries Greece and Cyprus to its list and Lebanon was also expected to become a member country in the coming days.
China though will only be providing rather than receiving money with its new membership. It may, however, benefit indirectly through EBRD projects in countries such as Kazakhstan that overlap with its so-called "One Belt, One Road" initiative.
"Joining in the EBRD will help both sides to share experience on economic transition and development, provide new opportunities for cooperation between China and the countries along the Silk Road," the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement on its website.
China's membership of the EBRD would also provide investment and cooperation opportunities for both sides in areas including Central and Eastern Europe, the eastern and southern area of the Mediterranean and Central Asia, the PBOC said.
The EBRD has also said it would like to do joint work with the new Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. (Additional reporting by Nigel Stephenson and Xiaoyi Shao in BEIJING, Editing by Mike Dolan, Grant McCool and Jacqueline Wong)
Reuters
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