China nominated Jin Liqun, the incumbent president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as candidate for a second term in this position, as the bank began its new presidential election on Tuesday.

Jin was nominated by Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun, who is also governor for China at AIIB.

The bank opened the nomination process for the election on Tuesday. The new president will be elected at the fifth annual meeting of the Board of Governors, which is to be held virtually on July 28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank said in a statement.

The five-year term of the newly-elected president shall commence on Jan 16, 2021, it said.

According to the rules for the election of the AIIB president, which were adopted by the Board of Governors in December 2019, candidates must be a national of one of AIIB's regional members.

The presidential candidate receiving an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the total number of the governors, representing not less than three-fourths of the total voting power of the members, shall be declared the next president of AIIB.

"The rules and procedures put in place by AIIB's Board of Governors provide for an open, transparent and merit-based process and we will ensure a well-run election that reflects the AIIB's high standards of governance," AIIB's Vice-President and Corporate Secretary Danny Alexander said on Tuesday.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, AIIB's 2020 annual meeting and the election of the president will have to be held virtually, Alexander said.

Jin was elected as the bank's first president on Jan 16, 2016. Before that, he served as the secretary-general of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat tasked with establishing AIIB, headquartered in Beijing.

The bank was initiated by President Xi Jinping on behalf of the Chinese government in October 2013. It was officially founded on December 25, 2015.

Members of AIIB from Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania expanded to 102 from 57 at the initial stage. The bank has approved 71 projects in the fields of energy, transportation, finance, water and urban development, with a total commitment of $14.27 billion.