Nepal seeks AIIB to finance 5 infrastructure projects

Nepal has sought financing for five infrastructure projects from Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund (AIIB) during the first annual meeting of the bank held in Beijing that concluded on Sunday, Nepalese officials participating in the event said.

Among the projects for which funding was sought, two are related to road, two are related to energy and one deals with urban infrastructure.

Baikuntha Aryal, a Nepalese delegation member and chief of international economic cooperation coordination division at the finance ministry, said that they submitted the list of projects during the annual AIIB meet asking consideration for financing.

"It is an initial move for potential financing. Many technical discussions will have to be taken place before the AIIB board takes decision on the request," he told Xinhua.

Before the beginning of first annual meeting of the bank on Saturday, the China-backed bank approved four projects loans worth 509 million U.S. dollars since it was launched last January.

AIIB has also partnered with three other multilateral development banks -- the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development -- for co-financing projects.