File Photo: Ships leave the South Sea island of Fiji, June 21, 2014. (Xinhua/Li Peng)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States joined an infrastructure facility targeting the Pacific region on Tuesday, said the State Department.

The move was widely seen as part of the administration's plan to boost its sway on the budding development of infrastructure in the Pacific Islands region.

In a statement, the State department announced Tuesday that it would join the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the governments of Australia, New Zealand and Japan, the European Union, the European Investment Bank, and the World Bank Group, to support the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF), which "aims to improve infrastructure and services in the Pacific Islands region."

Representatives from the U.S. Departments of State and Interior as well as USAID attended the December 11 meeting of the PRIF held in Sydney, which welcomed the United States as a full member, the statement said, adding that the membership will enable the United States to better coordinate the over 350 million U.S. dollars of assistance it provides to the Pacific Islands annually.

According to the official website of the PRIF, the facility, initiated in 2008 by the ADB, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the World Bank Group, has aimed "to provide technical assistance, research and knowledge products on key infrastructure issues to Pacific island countries" and worked "as a coordination facility for the principal development partners in the region."

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank became members of the facility in 2010, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency joined in 2013.