Germany has announced it intends to continue supporting the Chinese state-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), an Asian financial development lender, unlike its fellow G7 nation Canada, which has frozen its ties with the institution due to worries over how much influence Beijing holds over it.

The announcement came shortly after a meeting between Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and German Finance Minister Christian Lindner in Frankfurt on Sunday.

In June, deputy prime minister for Canada Chrystia Freeland had announced that Canada intended to freeze all of its ties with the financing institution due to governmental concern over the influence the government in Beijing held over it. At the time there was controversy regarding a Canadian who had served as a top executive at the institution, who claimed there was widespread “communist dominance” within the AIIB.

Launched in 2015 as an Asian alternative to the Western-influenced International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the AIIB has denied any claims of improper influence.

Following the Frankfurt summit, in a joint statement, Germany, which was a founding member of the AIIB, said it would “continue strengthening coordination” with China in the field of financing, and would expand two-way market opening based on fair and free competition.

The two nations also reaffirmed their commitment to enabling the AIIB to aid its member countries pursue sustainable development. Berlin and Beijing also committed to ensure the development bank would continue to comply with international standards and remain integrated into the global financial architecture.

So far 109 nations from every continent have joined the AIIB which has become the world’s second-largest multilateral development institution.