President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom on Wednesday ratified the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Membership Bill, which was passed by the parliament on November 12. Following ratification, the Act has been published in the government gazette. The main objective of the AIIB Membership Act is to formulate a law to ensure the Maldives’ membership of the AIIB is in accordance with the constitution, and to set rules and regulations for the Maldives as a member of the AIIB. According to the Act, the Maldives’ proposal to become a prospective founding member of the AIIB, under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by 24 Asian countries, had been accepted unanimously by the bank’s founding members. The Maldives signed the agreement on June 29, 2015. The law specifies the policies necessary for the Maldives, as a prospective founding member, to gain full membership of AIIB. The legislation states that the Maldives’ representative to sign all agreements and documents pertaining to the bank must be one appointed by the president in writing. The finance minister has authority over the government’s payments to the bank within the framework of the law. The finance from the bank will be deposited in the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) under the finance minister’s supervision. The Act also states that the responsibilities over all documents pertaining to the bank falls under the finance ministry. Furthermore, the law states that transactions with AIIB will be exempted from all taxes. Finally, the president may appoint a position with the authority to create the guidelines necessary to implement the AIIB membership agreement clauses in the Maldives. China touts the $50 billion institution as a tool for financing regional development alongside other lenders such as the World Bank and the Japan-led, Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB). Small member nations of AIIB have been delegated substantial authority over votes and decisions pertaining to the bank. Even China, which controls 26 percent of the votes, does not receive power to veto decisions, in direct contrast to the policies of western financial institutions such as the World Bank to delegate most of the authority to powerful nations. Additionally, AIIB is considered a potential challenge to western financial institutions as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The United States of America has rejected AIIB membership as the bank would increase China’s global power and influence, and had criticised the decisions of western countries such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom to apply for AIIB membership. AIIB was founded by China last year October as a source of financial aid for Asia’s infrastructure projects. The Maldives government had stated earlier that the island nation would be one of the first countries to receive investment loans from the bank. The Maldives' decision to join the China-led bank comes in light of recent efforts by the Maldives to to bolster its ties, especially in investment and trade, with neighbouring India as well as rival China. China is funding several infrastructure projects across the Maldives. Delivery of the government’s vital electoral pledges, including the building of a bridge between capital Male and the airport island of Hulhule and the development of the country’s main international airport, also hinges on soft loans being considered by Beijing. Chinese businesses, mostly state owned corporations, have recently forayed into the Maldives with investments in areas such as the Maldives’ upmarket luxury tourism industry. The Maldives also held its second investment forum in the Chinese capital earlier this month. The close relations between the Maldives and China have come at the expense of its ties with neighbours, especially India, which worries that China was flexing its arms in its traditional clout of control. Despite the recent attempts at improving ties with rival China, the Maldives has embarked on a mission to ramp up its long standing relationship with its closes neighbour, India. The recent thaw saw the visit of India’s top diploma Sushma Swaraj to the Maldives and the restarting of a joint commission after a 15-year hiatus earlier this month. In Male, Swaraj was told by President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom that the Maldives has a policy of "India First”. Ties between the Maldives and India are on the mend after reaching its lowest point following the premature termination in 2013 of the agreement with Indian infrastructure giant GMR, which had been managing the country’s main international airport since 2011. In light of the abrupt termination of the GMR agreement, New Delhi took extraordinary measures including the tightening of visa for Maldivian medical tourists and banning the sale of construction aggregate to Maldivian vendors. The Maldives does not give a rosy outlook for Indian companies that have faced several bureaucratic and political hurdles. Most of the Indian companies doing business in the Maldives had been forced out of the country over the past five years. The most high-profile such case relates to the subsequent eviction of GMR, which in 2010 won an international bid to manage the Maldives main international airport, by the Maldives government in 2012. Other Indian companies including Tatva, which had won a contract in 2010 to manage the waste of capital Male, and real estate giant Tata Housing have faced many obstacles, with some leaving the Maldives entirely. However, the Maldives now appears eager to court back Indian investors. At talks held during Swaraj’s recent visit to the Maldives, the Maldivian side reiterated its interest in engaging with private investors in India for iHavan and Hulhulmale Youth City projects. Sectors such as tourism, fisheries, education, IT, infrastructure development, energy cooperation including renewable energy, and traditional medicine were also identified for future cooperation. India, meanwhile, has publicly sided with the Maldives government over the continued imprisonment of the country’s former president Mohamed Nasheed, an issue central to the Maldives’ relationship with its international partners. Nasheed’s lawyers are pushing for targeted sanctions on top Maldivian officials. India, however, opposes such action.