This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 20, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has expressed its interest in financing the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR), among other infrastructure projects in Malaysia, according to the Embassy of China.

Second secretary of Embassy of China, Dr Fang Tao, said the president of AIIB, Jin Liqun, had met with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak earlier to discuss the project. Both sides have expressed interest in collaborating on this project, he said.

Fang was speaking at a press conference held on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Supply Chain Conference 2018 conducted by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers here yesterday.

“I think they are open to it (the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR). After Jin Liqun attended a conference hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia several weeks ago, he realised that this is the market to which AIIB has not attached great importance.

“I believe the delegation went back to China and the Embassy will be in close contact with AIIB to discuss how they can proceed, or how AIIB can provide financial services to Malaysian companies, or all the large infrastructure projects in Malaysia,” said Fang.

AIIB is a China-led multilateral development bank launched in 2016 and headquartered in Beijing, China. It currently does not fund any projects in Malaysia.