Baku, Azerbaijan, July 21
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran has purchased $1.6 billion worth of shares of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has been founded by China, said Majid Reza Hariri, vice chairman of Iran-China joint chamber of commerce.
Iran is the 15th largest shareholder of the bank and holds a $1.6 billion stake as the 34th prospective founding member, Iran 's Mehr news agency quoted Hariri as saying July 21.
The AIIB is a proposed international financial institution focused on supporting infrastructure construction in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank's Articles of Agreement was signed by 50 prospective founding members on June 29, 2015.
Buying shares of the AIIB can reshape non-oil trade between Iran and China, Hariri said, adding that through using loans from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, many development projects can be implemented.
China was the leading importer of Iranian non-oil goods in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2015, according to the Iran Customs Administration.
Iran exported $9.159 billion of non-oil goods to China and imported $12.56 billion of non-oil goods from the country.
Edited by CN