MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Honduras wants to join BRICS bank

President Xiomara Castro formally made the request during a meeting with Dilma Rousseff

During her six-day visit to China, Honduran President Xiomara Castro formally asked BRICS' New Development Bank (NBD) Chairwoman Dilma Rousseff for the Central American country to join the entity, it was reported in Shanghai. A technical delegation of the Honduran government will travel in the coming days to initiate the process.

Castro and Rousseff met as China and Honduras started diplomatic ties following Tegucigalpa's decision to break up with Taipei, thus joining Panama, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua in severing relations with the island.

“We consider that we can have all the possibilities here to find mechanisms that allow us to develop our economy, as well as to find permanent allies that allow us to give a different quality of life to our peoples,” Castro said. In Honduras “we have had to live with models that have been applied and that often lead us to generate more poverty and misery,” she added. “We know that we can exchange very important issues of interest not only for our country but for all of Latin America,” she went on.

Also on Saturday, Castro visited the research and development center of the technology company Huawei, and then left for Beijing “to mark a historic milestone,” when she meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB was established by BRICS member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – back in 2014. The five economies of the bloc account for more than 40% of the world’s population and nearly a quarter of global GDP.

The bank was set up with the purpose of financing infrastructure and sustainable development in member states and other emerging economies. It also aims to help member states to reduce dependence on the US dollar and euro. The multinational lender continues to expand its global reach and already includes Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Egypt.

Earlier this month, Rousseff, a former president of Brazil, said the NBD’s board of directors had formally enabled her to vote on Argentina’s entry to the organization, which would allow Buenos Aires to access financial assistance.

The NDB has lent US$ 33 billion to support more than 96 projects in the five founding member nations.