Jin Liqun, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), along with Takehiko Nakao, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), recently inked a memorandum of understanding in Germany, agreeing to intensify cooperation between the two institutions.

Through co-financing, knowledge sharing, and joint policy dialogues with member countries, the two institutions will work together across the areas of energy, transportation, telecommunications, rural and agricultural development, water, urban development and environmental protection.

It is estimated that between 2010 and 2020, developing nations in Asia will need a total of USD $8 trillion in infrastructure investment with an annual demand of over $700 billion. But multilateral development banks only invest $10 to $20 billion in infrastructure each year.

Against this backdrop, the establishment of the AIIB can inject a more sustainable impetus into the Asian economy and facilitate economic interactions between China and its neighbors by mobilizing more capital and supporting infrastructure construction.

At the same time, AIIB has attracted a significant number of member states from Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa and South America, including several developed countries like the U.K., Germany and France.

The cooperation between the AIIB and the ADB signals the start of a very positive cooperation. As Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the inauguration ceremony for AIIB, "The founding and opening of the AIIB means a great deal to the reform of the global economic governance system. It is consistent with the evolving trends of the global economic landscape and will help make the economic governance system more just, equitable and effective."

Mutually beneficial cooperation is one such trend, especially in China. An old Chinese saying goes: "When everybody adds fuel, the flames rise high." Similarly, an African saying goes: "If you want to go fast, walk alone; if you want to go far, walk together."

This logic could also be applied to the founding of AIIB and the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese leaders have reiterated on many occasions that the initiative is not a solo endeavor, but rather a group one. The success of these plans could give rise to a new path of cooperation in the 21st century, setting a precedent for government assistance, developmental finance and market allocation.

Taking infrastructure connectivity as its priority, the Belt and Road Initiative will promote the growth of trade for developing countries along the route. It will do this by promoting development in China.

China's development needs the world to succeed and vice versa. From peaceful development to global cooperation, from AIIB to the Belt and Road Initiative, all these concepts and plans reflect Chinese values going beyond colonialism, imperialism and hegemony. These philosophies are beneficial to the just, balanced, sustainable and inclusive development of mankind.

(The author is a special researcher with the Center of German Studies of Tongji University and a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University.) 

The article is edited and translated from 人民日报海外版：亚投行和亚行牵手了