Britain said it had become the first Group of Seven economy to sign off on the rules of a China-backed development bank for Asia, which is seen by the United States as an unwelcome rival to western-led institutions such as the World Bank, Reuters reported. “This caps a tremendous year for the UK’s economic relations with Asia, the fastest growing region of the world economy,” British Finance Minister George Osborne said in a statement issued on Thursday. Britain was the first non-Asian country as well as the first from the G7 to ratify the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s articles of agreement, he said.
