MoF hosts BRICS’ New Development Bank Board of Directors meeting

The Ministry of Finance (MoF)

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) hosted the board of directors’ meeting of the BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB) in Dubai, held on 27th and 28th November 2023, in line with the UAE’s strategy to enhance coordination with regional and international developmental organisations. This meeting marks the first board meeting of the New Development Bank to be held in the UAE and the MENA region.

Mohamed Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, emphasised the importance of hosting multilateral development banks in the country, to create partnerships and cooperation between these banks, the financial sector, and the private sector in the UAE and the region, to support sustainable projects and benefit from innovative financing tools. This reflects the UAE’s keenness on inclusivity in supporting development to achieve global prosperity.

The meeting took place before the UAE officially joins BRICS, starting in January 2024, after the five founding countries ratified the application. This announcement came during the meeting of the leaders of the five countries in August 2023 in Johannesburg for the 15th BRICS summit.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the New Development Bank for the BRICS countries, Dilma Rousseff, President of NDB, members of the board of directors, and vice presidents of the bank, in addition to Thuraiya Hamid Alhashmi, Director of International Financial Relations and Organisations Department at the UAE Ministry of Finance and member of the board of directors of NDB and a Constituency Director representing the United Arab Emirates, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the Ministry of Finance held a reception attended by the president and members of the New Development Bank, the Central Bank of the UAE, and chief executives of UAE and international banks based in the UAE, as well as the International Finance Corporation, which is part of the World Bank Group, to build partnerships between the New Development Bank and the private sector in the UAE.

The UAE joined the New Development Bank in October 2021. The UAE is represented on the board of governors by Mohamed Al Hussaini as Governor, and Younis Haji Al Khoori, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, as Alternate Governor. In July 2023, NDB elected Thuraiya Alhashmi as a member of its Board of Directors and a Constituency Director, making her the first Emirati and Arab woman to assume a Director’s position at the New Development Bank, which was established in July 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).

The headquarters of the New Development Bank are located in Shanghai, China, with regional offices in both South Africa and India. It aims to mobilise resources through loans, guarantees, and equity participation to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS countries and other emerging economies, as well as in developing countries. It complements the efforts of multilateral financial institutions for global development and contributes to collective commitments to achieve strong, sustainable, and balanced growth, finance infrastructure projects, and achieve sustainable development in BRICS countries and developing nations.