Portugal as well as Brazil is on the final list of founding members of China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Chinese Ministry of Finance confirmed.

“The AIIB has 57 countries as founding members, among those 37 are Asian countries [and] 20 are countries from outside the region,” China’s Vice Minister of Finance Shi Yaobin was quoted as saying.

He added that representatives of the founding members would meet this month and again in May to discuss the working plan for the lender. An AIIB charter draft would be finalised and signed “by June”, Mr Shi added.

The establishment of the lender was first proposed by China in 2013, as a means to finance infrastructure development in Asia, including roads, railways and telecommunications networks. The bank is expected to launch with US$100-billion worth of capital later this year.