Iran has been admitted to membership of the Chinese-initiated Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank as a founding member, the Finance Ministry of China has announced, Anadolu Agency reported.
Iran's application, as well as that of the United Arab Emirates as a founder-member, was approved by other founding members, according to a statement from the ministry on Tuesday.
So far, more than 50 countries have applied for membership of the bank, to which China pledged to provide $50 billion in initial capital.
Turkey announced on March 26 that it had applied for the membership of the bank, which aims to have more than $100 billion in initial capital and is expected to start operations at the end of 2015.