MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former Brazilian President Rousseff to chair BRICS Bank

Rousseff participated in the founding of the NDB in 2014

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been elected Friday to head the New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the BRICS Bank to replace Marcos Troyjo, who had held the post since July 2020. Rousseff will remain at the helm of the Shanghai-based financial institution until the end of Brazil's mandate in July 2025. Each BRICS country (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) chairs the bank for rotating five-year terms. She will take office later next week during President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's visit.

“As president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff has focused her agenda on ensuring the country's economic stability and job creation. In addition, during her administration, the fight against poverty was prioritized, and the social programs initiated under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva were expanded and recognized internationally. As a result of one of the most extensive poverty reduction processes in the country's history, Brazil was removed from the United Nations' Map of Hunger,” the NDB highlighted in a statement, which also recalled that under Dilma, Brazil promoted respect for the sovereignty of countries and the defense of multilateralism, sustainable development, human rights, and peace.

The declaration also highlighted that the former president expanded cooperation with several countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, participated in the founding of the NDB in 2014, and had a decisive presence in the Paris Agreement on the environment in 2015.

According to experts interviewed by Agência Brasil, the future president of the BRICS Bank will have the opportunity to expand the institution's international insertion, but will face two major challenges: boosting projects related to the environment and dribbling the geopolitical impact of Western retaliations against Russia, one of the founding partners.

Created in December 2014 to expand financing for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS and other emerging economies, the NDB currently has about US$32 billion in approved projects, of which about US$4 billion is invested in Brazil, mainly in highway and port projects.

Bangladesh, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay joined the bank in 2021.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)