Singapore, May 22 (IANS): The founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) finalised the Articles of Agreement (AoA) after a three-day meeting in Singapore, according to a statement released by China's finance ministry on Friday.

The 5th Chief Negotiators' Meeting on establishing the AIIB was held from Wednesday to Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. The closed door meeting was co-chaired by Shi Yaobin, vice minister of the Chinese finance ministry and permanent chair of the Chief Negotiators' Meeting, and Yee Ping Yi, deputy secretary of Singapore's ministry of finance.

Jin Liqun, secretary general of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat on Establishing the AIIB, reported to the meeting the progress to date in setting up the AIIB. The chief negotiators also discussed the draft Environmental and Social Framework and draft Procurement Policy framework, among other topics during the meeting.

The chief negotiators have held five rounds of meetings since the signing of the memorandum of understanding on establishing the AIIB in Beijing in October 2014. It is expected that the AoA would be ready for signing by the end of June and the AIIB would be operational by the end of this year.