A multilateral export-import bank association that aims to serve the economic needs of Northeast Asia and relieve capital shortages, especially in the Greater Tumen Initiative, was officially launched on Thursday in the Yanbian Korea autonomous prefecture in Jilin province.

The NEA EXIM Banks Association was established among export-import and equivalent development banks of China, Mongolia, Russia and south Korea, the four member countries of the GTI, with communication and administrative support from the GTI Secretariat.

"One of its main functions is to encourage the private sector to consolidate resources for infrastructure and development projects. We hope that the current stage of partnership among GTI member countries and other relevant international agencies and financial institutions may be further enhanced through more creative and collaborative financial channels," said Wang Weina, director of the GTI Secretariat.

"The infrastructure of the GTI and the entire NEA is very poor and capital shortage has long been greatly restrained the development of the GTI. Infrastructure construction and attracting investment are top priorities of its agenda, and the association will open a new vista to the GTI and is being established right on time," said Wang Shouwen, China's assistant minister of commerce, at the inaugural meeting.

"I suggest all the member governments can improve their investment mechanisms and create a fair, transparent and highly efficient system to attract more investors," he said.

The inaugural meeting was a result of many multilateral discussions and two working level meetings since a memorandum of understanding for the association was signed in 2012.

Chen Chao, deputy GTI national coordinator, further explained the necessity of the association.

"Many local governments within the region reported that they have many large and good projects related to infrastructure, such as gateways for the construction of roads and sea routes to connect the member countries, while short of investment," Chen said.

"To make the best use of capital from the association, we will invite local and central governments of the member countries to establish a project database to clarify the projects within the GTI with specific introduction, investment needed and practical reports," Chen said.

The bank association will select the projects with the most potential and high return on investment. We hope to build the bank association to be a platform to integrate investment through all the channels," he added.

The establishment of the association was supported by the member governments.

"It's an urgent task and we believe the association will definitely help relieve capital shortages. We will explore more projects under the framework and will work out more policy proposals," said Pavel Korolev, deputy minister of economic development for Russia.

Korolev also proposed two Russian projects, a port and a power station that "need a large amount of investment" to come under the association's framework. "The putting into use of the two projects will benefit all the member countries of the GTI, and I hope the association may be interested in them," he said.

Jin Seoung-ho, director general of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance of South Korea said the establishment of the association is a big achievement.

"We hope the association can achieve the desired affect," he added.

Li Lijun, deputy general manager of the International Business Department of EXIM Bank of China also called for the establishment of a supervisory mechanism.

hena@chinadaily.com.cn