AIIB first Silk Road projects in central Asia, Pakistan

China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank announced its first new Silk Road projects, which include transport arteries in central Asia and Pakistan, according to the Financial Times. The bank will help fund a highway in Pakistan, an expressway running from Tajikistan’s capital to the border with Uzbekistan, and a ring road in Almaty, Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the projects and tender documents. The AIIB was formally launched in January after attracting dozens of Asian and European member countries, many of them US allies that ignored Washington’s concerns about the emergence of a Chinese rival to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.