REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SHANGHAI -- BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has been officially launched on Tuesday in Shanghai. The ceremony of opening the bank was led by NDB President Kundapur Vaman Kamath, China's Finance Minister Lou Jiwei and Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong.
"BRICS is five countries [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] with common goals, and we should work on bringing them closer together," Kamath said in his welcoming remarks.
"Establishing NDB will seriously affect world economy and help restore it," Lou Jiwei noted.
The agreement on establishing the bank was reached on July 15, 2014 in Brazil?s Fortaleza.
The bank will have a starting capital of $50 billion and the capital may be later increased to $100 billion. The bank has been set up to finance infrastructure projects and projects for sustainable development of BRICS and other developing countries.
The first president of the bank will be a representative of India. A representative of Brazil will become the chairman of the board of directors, and Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will be the chairman of the board of governors.