S’pore has right attributes to serve Asia’s needs

The Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB) was conceived by the government of the People’s Republic of China.

It is to further infrastructure developments in Asia, with a membership of 57 countries across the developed and developing world to date in common perspective.

China currently assumes the largest share of funding and it is natural that corporate headquarters are located there.

However, the AIIB must acknowledge the international composition of its members. If it wishes to also have regional headquarters outside China, this would reflect its cosmopolitan structure.

Such a decision runs the risk of becoming political, when the initiative is foremost about development and serving the needs of Asia.

Like Mr Sun Xi, I would like to second Singapore as the city of choice, if regional headquarters outside China are to be established (“Singapore should be AIIB’s Regional HQ”, April 11).

Singapore is ideal. We are in Asia and part of ASEAN. And though small, we are a country with many friends. We are a very strategic sea and air-communications hub within a short flight’s reach of key cities in Asia, be it from Kazakhstan or our neighbour Indonesia, which is on the throes of a major development thrust.

India is also easily reached from Singapore and we share strong cultural links with the nation.

Singapore is also an established competitive financial centre where English — which cuts across cross-border language barriers — is widely spoken. At the same time, the population is bilingual.

Singapore also has an internationally recognised seat for dispute resolution.

Without natural resources, we are driven to provide good services. This is what we do best, as a global marketplace where infrastructure plans can be conceived, found feasible, funded and implemented, underwritten by international expertise.

Such a decision is, of course, not ours to make, but I trust that what is best will reign for the common good.