A group of 24 emerging economies on Thursday welcomed plans to establish the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
In a statement they said they "look forward" to the creation of the AIIB. The statement followed a meeting on the sidelines of the biannual IMF-World Bank events in Washington.
The group included China as well as India, the Philippines and Egypt, all of which are AIIB participants. African and Latin American nations were also among the countries represented. China plans to launch the bank later this year.
In the statement, the group said infrastructure investment is critically important for growth and that the public sector should play the central role in the projects.
"Leveraging private finance for long-term investment, including for infrastructure, is crucial, and will require effective approaches and innovative instruments," the group said.
It called on the U.S. Congress to ratify an IMF reform plan agreed in 2010 that would give China and other emerging countries a bigger say in the organization by changing quotas and voting rights systems.
The group also demanded that the International Monetary Fund and the International Development Association, a component of the World Bank, lend money to low-income countries in a more flexible manner.