JOIN USLeaders to review BRICS bank's plan to have new members
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterparts from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa will review the proposed expansion of the BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) when they will hold the annual summit of the five-nation-bloc in Brasilia this week.
Modi on Tuesday left for Brasilia where Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro would host the annual summit of the BRICS – a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – on Wednesday and Thursday. PM Modi and the other leaders of the BRICS nations will witness signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the trade and investment promotion agencies of the five nations.
“During the summit, the five major economies of the world will aim to significantly strengthen their cooperation in science, technology and innovation; enhance cooperation on digital economy and build mechanisms for counter-terrorism cooperation within the BRICS framework,” Prime Minister said in a statement released just before his departure from New Delhi.
He will have bilateral meetings with his host Bolsonaro, as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
K V Kamath, the president of the NDB, will present to the leaders a report on the bank, which was set up by the BRICS in 2014 to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects, not only in five member nations, but also in other emerging and developing economies.
The NDB, the first of its kind set up by developing nations, had initial authorised capital of $100 billion and initial subscribed capital of $ 50 billion, with each of the five BRICS nations subscribing equally to shares worth $10 billion. It approved loans worth $3.4 billion for 13 projects by the end of 2017. It granted loans worth $4.6 billion for 17 more projects in 2018, thus taking its loan book to $8 billion for 30 projects.
The bank, which has its headquarters at Shanghai in China, also approved loans for five more projects worth $1.2 nillion in early 2019. It has an ambitious plan to double its loan book to $16 billion by the end of the current year.
“I think, as far as our assessment of the banks working goes, I think it has done very well and right now they are probably already looking at options on whether they would like to expand the membership of the bank,” T S Tirumuri, Secretary (Economic Relations) at the Ministry of External Affairs, said in New Delhi.
The NDB Board of Governor underlined in 2017 that expansion of membership beyond the founding members was a strategic focus of the bank designed to extend its reach and development impact across the BRICS countries and other emerging markets and developing economies. The board approved the terms, conditions and procedures for the admission of new members.
The NDB's Article of Agreement – the founding document of the bank – allows it to admit any member of the United Nations to be its member.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had first proposed to set up the bank when he had hosted the the fourth BRICS summit in New Delhi in 2012.