The UAE's Ministry of Finance hosted the board of directors’ meeting of the BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB) in Dubai, from 27 to 28 November 2023, marking the Beijing-headquartered development bank's first board meeting in the UAE and the MENA region.

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

The meeting in Dubai 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.

The UAE joined the New Development Bank in October 2021. The UAE is represented on the board of governors by Mohamed Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, as Governor, and Younis Haji Al Khoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, as Alternate Governor. 

New Development Bank was established in July 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) with head office in Shanghai and regional offices in South Africa and India. NDB 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. 

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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