By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-01 02:36:26 | Updated at 2025-04-03 10:51:02
2 days ago
China has nominated Zou Jiayi, a former vice-minister of finance, as its candidate for the next president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the China-headquartered development bank with investments worth tens of billions of dollars.
Zou is expected to replace outgoing founding president Jin Liqun, who will step down after finishing his second five-year term on January 15, 2026.
The AIIB confirmed that nominations would remain open until April 30 and that it expected an election for the next president to take place at the tenth annual meeting of its board of governors in late June in Beijing.
But Zou is the clear favourite to be elected given that China has the largest voting share in the multilateral development finance organisation.
The 61-year-old Zou, a native of eastern China’s Jiangsu province, is currently deputy secretary general of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body. She is also among the few female members of the Communist Party’s 20th Central Committee, a major decision-making body in China.
Her nomination comes at a tumultuous time for the world of development finance, as US President Donald Trump seeks to withdraw American support for overseas aid projects and China looks to gain a bigger role through platforms like the AIIB.
The Beijing-headquartered bank is a high-profile product of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a trillion-dollar development strategy that has funded projects across the Global South.
