VALLETTA - Malta's Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna has said that joining Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) would further cement Malta's friendship and cooperation with Asian countries, China in particular.

"This partnership is a reflection of the Maltese government's endeavours to forge closer ties with the Asian market as part of its economic growth roadmap," a statement issued Friday by Malta's Ministry for Finance quoted Scicluna as saying.

China's Ministry of Finance said on Thursday that Malta and Kyrgyzstan have been approved as prospective founding members of the AIIB.

In the coming weeks, Malta will join the other prospective founding members to discuss and approve the AIIB's Articles of Agreement, which will lay down the governance and accountability rules on which the bank's operations will be based.

Scicluna in the statement elaborated that by getting actively involved, Malta expects to maximise its role as a financial services centre, and as a catalyst of investment initiatives that bring Asia and Europe closer together.

"As International Monetary Fund research has shown, boosting efficient infrastructure investment can be a powerful impetus to economic growth, both in the short and in the long run," Scicluna.