Source: China.org.cn    Published: 2017-9-4

The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has so far approved the financing of 11 projects worth up to US$3 billion, announced China`s vice finance minister Shi Yaobin on Sept. 3.

Leaders of the five BRICS countries meet in Xiamen, Fujian Province on Sept. 4. [Photo/China Pictorial]

"As we have seen with our Chinese customers, NDB`s loans mainly flow to areas concerning people`s livelihoods, environment protection and new energy," said Shi, citing the wind power project in Fujian, flood control program in Hunan and the green low-carbon development project in Jiangxi, which, in his words, "will set a model for the bank`s future orientation."

Founded in Shanghai on July 21, 2015, the bank was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the five emerging economies, as the brainchild of the BRICS mechanism.

Last month, the NDB opened its first regional center in Johannesburg, South Africa and recently broke ground for its permanent headquarters building in Shanghai.

Compared with its counterparts in the financial sector such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB), the BRICS bank is growing at a much faster pace, said Wang Wen, Executive Dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, dismissing global voices which question the bank`s role and its "slow" development.

The first loan project, Shanghai Lingang Distributed Solar Power Project, in China funded by the bank has started operation recently, with a maturity length of 17 years, under an agreement signed between the NDB, the Ministry of Finance and Shanghai municipal government in December 2016.

In the initial phase, it`s been the original five countries working together to build something new, without participation from the developed countries.

While NDB wants to cooperate with the World Bank and other existing banks, it also wants to innovate to meet the required needs, said Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr, the bank`s vice president.

The general strategy for the next five years is to focus on sustainable infrastructure development, he said.

Wang Wen is Executive Dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.