‘If BRICS interests protected, NDB could cooperate with World Bank’
June 15, 2015, 8:30 am

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil on 15 July 2014 [PPIO]

Reiterating the views of BRICS officials, Brazilian Vice President of the BRICS Bank, Paulo Nogueira Batista Junior has said the new lender would not lock horns with the World Bank or the ADB.

He also proposed that the BRICS Bank could have formal interactions with these western institutions if the interests of the BRICS countries are protected.

“The new institutions established by the BRICS countries are open to cooperation and even joint actions with the existing organizations on the condition that it will meet their interests. It seems quite real to me, that in the very near future, the New Development Bank can establish even the formal mechanisms of interaction with the World Bank, the Asian Bank, the Brazilian Development Bank,” Batista said in an interview to Russian state agency Sputnik in Rio de Janeiro.

The first meeting of the bank’s board of governors will be in early July during the BRICS summit in Russia, at which it will formally appoint its president and vice-presidents.

Batista, who represents Brazil and ten other developing economies at the IMF, will take charge in Shanghai where the new lender will base its headquarters.

Brazil’s Batista contributed to the reform negotiations to increase emerging countries’ power quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Batista also participated in the preparatory work and elaboration of the agreements to create the BRICS New Development Bank which were signed in July 2014, during the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil.

China’s Vice-Finance Minister Shi Yaobin indicated last week that membership will not be limited to the group’s five-member nations.

The BRICS bank will have an initial authorized capital of 100 billion divided equally among the five founding countries and will share equal voting powers.

An African regional center will be set up in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Brazilian Vice President of the NDB, Batista is traveling to Russia this week to attend the BRICS Business meet during the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Thursday.

The SPIEF is Russia’s version of the World Economic Forum at Davos.

TBP