<div>President Barack Obama's administration is proposing that a new Chinese-led development bank over which Washington has voiced concerns work collaboratively with Western development groups like the World Bank, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.</div><div> </div><div>The United States, worried about China's growing diplomatic clout, has been urging countries to think twice about joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, considered by some as a challenge to the World Bank and the Manila-based Asian Development Bank.</div><div> </div><div>Despite US misgivings, Britain said earlier this month it would join the AIIB. France, Germany and Italy quickly followed.</div><div> </div><div>Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Sunday that 27 countries had now signed up to participate in the new bank, a $50 billion fund set to begin operations at the end of the year providing project loans to developing countries.</div><div> </div><div>The Journal reported that the US Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, Nathan Sheets, said: “The US would welcome new multilateral institutions that strengthen the international financial architecture."</div><div> </div><div>He told the Journal that co-financing projects with existing institutions like the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank would help ensure the new bank complements rather than competes with existing institutions.</div><div> </div><div>The US Treasury Department had no immediate comment.</div><div> </div><div>World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement on Sunday that his institution was discussing with the AIIB "how we can closely work together. We have every intention of sharing knowledge and co-investing in projects throughout Asia.”</div><div> </div><div>The World Bank has welcomed the setting up of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and promised full cooperation.</div><div> </div><div>"Any new initiative that will mobilise funding in order to fill infrastructure gap is certainly welcome," World Bank Managing Director Mulyani Indrawati said on Sunday.</div><div> </div><div>Indrawati dismissed worries that the AIIB will compete against World Bank or existing regional development banks, saying the global need of infrastructure is huge and the market is large enough.</div><div> </div><div>"What's important is whether you are going to be able to match the funding with the need of infrastructure," she told state-run Xinhua news agency.</div><div> </div><div>US allies Japan, Australia and South Korea are still absent from the AIIB's list of members.</div><div> </div><div>Leaders of the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank told a conference in Beijing on Sunday they were in talks with or happy to cooperate with the AIIB.</div><div> </div><div>(Agencies)</div>
