By Meletus EZE
Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Tuesday met with Kundapur Vaman Kamath, president of the New Development Bank (NDB), and pledged sustained support for the Shanghai-based BRICS bank.
Han, reiterating China’s determination of further opening up, saying he hoped the NDB would proactively support and participate in China’s process of reform and opening up.
Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, congratulated Kamath on the great progress of the NDB since its establishment.
Earlier this year, the NDB received favourable ratings from S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
In August, S&P announced it had assigned AA+ long-term and A-1+ short-term issuer credit ratings with a stable outlook to the NDB, and Fitch put the bank’s long-term issuer default rating at AA+ and short-term IDR at F1+ with a stable outlook.
“The Chinese side stands ready to step up practical cooperation with the New Development Bank and will, as always, provide proactive support for the bank in its operation,’’ the vice premier said.
Kamath, on his part, voiced gratitude for China’s strong backing in the NDB’s establishment and operation.
“The NDB will continue deepening cooperation with China and playing an active role for the prosperity of BRICS countries and developing countries at large,’’ Kamath said.
The NDB is a multilateral development bank founded in 2014 by BRICS member countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with the aim to support infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS countries and other emerging economies.
It formally opened in Shanghai in 2015.
