The first Luxembourg-Chengdu freight train is seen before start at a cargo train station in Dudelange, Luxembourg, April 4, 2019. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said Tuesday that Luxembourg will host its 2019 annual meeting on July 12 and 13.

This will be the first time that AIIB's annual meeting has been hosted outside of Asia since its founding over three years ago.

Europe has provided much assistance to the AIIB and Luxembourg is a founding member of the bank, AIIB Vice President Danny Alexander said when explaining why Luxemburg will host the meeting.

Photo taken on March 26, 2017 shows a night view of Luxembourg city, Luxembourg. (Xinhua)

We hope the meeting will promote connectivity between Asia and Europe, he said, adding that the second Asian Infrastructure Forum will also be held as part of the meeting.

The annual meeting will bring together AIIB's governors and directors to engage with delegations from members, partner institutions, business leaders, civil society and experts from a range of fields.

The AIIB is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia. Headquartered in Beijing, it began operations in January 2016 and has now grown to 97 members worldwide.