Chile is joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Foreign Ministry announced Saturday as President Michelle Bachelet paid a visit to China. Bachelet, on a visit to the multilateral lender's headquarters, said Santiago's membership was a done deal.

"We are very happy to have been accepted as members and as a government have to do our part to get full membership approved," Bachelet said, according to a ministry statement. Founded in 2015, and seen as a counterweight to other development banks such as the World Bank, the new lender finances infrastructure projects in Asia. It has founding members around the world including Britain, Germany and France.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017