My Lords, when I was so rudely interrupted, I was in the middle of a sentence. I began to quote the White House statement at the time of our announcement that we were joining the AIIB. The statement said that the White House had concerns about whether the AIIB would meet high standards,
“particularly related to governance, and environmental and social safeguards … The international community has a stake in seeing the AIIB complement the existing architecture, and to work effectively alongside the World Bank and Asian Development Bank”.
I understand that the United States has revised its opinions and that the concerns that it previously expressed have been addressed. In particular, AIIB president designate Jin Liqun, in an FT article that I read on 25 October, vowed to run a “clean, lean and green” institution, operating to the highest international standards, but with greater speed than its rivals. Liqun said that the AIIB,
“would abide by the toughest environmental and social standards in its lending and model itself in many ways on existing multilateral development banks”.
The thing is, China will hold 26% voting shares, which is almost double the proportion of United States voting shares in the World Bank, which is
dominated by and hosted in Washington. As the articles of association stipulate, China will have veto power on issues that require a supermajority vote, such as the board, the president and the capital, as well as the major operational and financial policies. Retention of a veto no doubt reflects China’s determination to retain control of key aspects of the bank. I am certainly aware that the Philippines is very concerned by the potential veto power that China will hold.
Given the original concerns raised by the White House and the White House National Security Council, what reassurances have the Government received that the AIIB will retain strong environmental, social and governance standards? Despite the good words of the bank’s president designate, what steps have the Government taken to ensure that standards are upheld and kept under appropriate scrutiny and review?
What assessment have the Government made of how the new investment bank will sit alongside and work effectively with the IMF, the World Bank and other global institutions? How do we ensure that it behaves in a complementary and co-ordinated fashion rather than becoming duplicative and suboptimal in its effectiveness?
Finally, just under a week ago the Minister addressed in the Chamber the question of unpaid parking fines and London congestion charge payments by diplomatic missions and international organisations. It appears that this order may add to the number of inviolable organisations—I hope the Minister appreciates how I pronounced that word because I am expecting a reciprocal arrangement in terms of pronunciation—so what steps have the Government taken to ensure that, in the event of unpaid tickets arising from this new bank, it pays up?