Turkey on Friday has been admitted to membership of the Chinese-initiated Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank as a founding member, the Finance Ministry of China has announced.

Turkey's application was approved by the other founding members, according to a statement from the ministry on Friday.

So far, more than 50 countries have applied for membership of the bank and 38 of them have been approved as founding members.

China has pledged to provide $50 billion in initial capital.

Turkey announced on March 26 that it had applied for the membership of the bank, which aims to have more than $100 billion in initial capital and is expected to start operations at the end of 2015.

The bank is intended to help fill an estimated $8 trillion gap in Asian development. Great Britain, France and italy are among the founding members.

But the U.S. has expressed opposition to the project, citing concerns about "development standards."

There is concern that the bank will play a conflicting role with the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.