The New Development Bank (NDB) created by the BRICS countries must remain open to accepting new members who share its agenda. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said this on Tuesday, speaking at the opening ceremony of the annual meeting of the NDB's Board of Governors and Board of Directors at the bank's headquarters in Shanghai.
"It is important for the bank to rely on domestic resources, the domestic resources of its shareholder countries, and not to be afraid to be ambitious in implementing its agenda. In addition, it is important to continue to be open to new members joining the bank's shareholders who share the agenda of development and cooperation with all international organizations. I am confident that the New Development Bank will successfully meet all the challenges it faces," he said.
"Today, the task of the bank is to create a new: new connections, new infrastructure, new quality of life in the shareholder countries of the New Development Bank. At the same time, the processes taking place today in the global financial architecture create new opportunities for the development of the bank. Financial, transport and logistics and infrastructure restrictions in shareholder countries - all this must be in the focus of our bank," the minister said, adding that the NDB must pay special attention to such areas as promotion of technology transfer, promotion of innovation, addressing food and energy security, development of sustainable infrastructure and capacity building for development.
Over 2022, Siluanov stated, one could see how the traditional system of international development institutions and financial linkages could quickly collapse, creating additional risks and costs around the world. "Unfortunately, in the new reality, development interests are receding into the background, giving way to politics. The task of BRICS is to unite, not divide, so when the BRICS countries decided to create the New Development Bank, we had one simple goal in mind: to create an institution for developing countries, so that we would all have an additional tool to support the development agenda," the minister pointed out.
New Development Bank
The new development bank was established by the BRICS countries on the basis of the intergovernmental agreement signed at the VI BRICS summit in Fortaleza in July 2014. The purpose of the bank is to finance infrastructure projects and sustainable development projects in the BRICS countries and developing countries. The bank previously received international credit ratings of "AA+" from Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings, allowing it to effectively attract long-term funding in the international and local capital markets.
Over the years, the bank has approved 98 projects totaling $33.2 billion in support of such areas as transport, water, clean energy, digital and social infrastructure, as well as urban development.
The Russian portfolio of the NDB has 14 investment projects, including a loan under the program to combat COVID-19. The volume of operations in Russia amounts to $3.9 billion. Russia is the largest non-sovereign borrower of the bank. Its non-sovereign portfolio has reached $2.139 bln, which is 47% of the bank's non-sovereign operations.
Over the last few years, the NDB has expanded its membership.
In late 2020, the Board of Governors authorized the bank to hold formal negotiations with potential new member countries. So far, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bangladesh have already officially joined the bank. Uruguay should join them after the completion of the necessary procedures.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: FAS
Based on materials from TASS