Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, said that Egypt's accession to the New Development Bank (NDB) represents a testimony of confidence in the solidity of the Egyptian economy from the BRICS countries; Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Maait added, in a statement on Wednesday, that Egypt is keen to enhance cooperation with international development partners, especially in light of the unprecedented development movement that Egypt is witnessing to lay the foundations of comprehensive and sustainable development, and the promising investment and development opportunities it provides in various sectors, serving development goals, contributing to improving the standard of living of citizens, meeting their development needs, and improving the quality of public services provided to them. He indicated that, in the coming years, we look forward to building a strong partnership with the New Development Bank (NDB), which has enormous financing capabilities and advanced international expertise that can help Egypt meet its financing needs and maximize its efforts in infrastructure development, in a way that contributes to achieving Egypt's ambitious goals in the field of sustainable development, explaining that the New Development Bank (NDB) is a new platform for Egypt to enhance cooperation with BRICS countries and other emerging and developing economies in the field of infrastructure and sustainable development. Ahmed Kochouk, Deputy Minister for Financial Policies, indicated the Ministry of Finance's keenness to diversify sources of funding, which would contribute to reducing the cost of providing financing needs for development projects, in a manner consistent with the efforts to sustain the improvement of public financial indicators; in order to preserve the gains of economic reform, and to maintain a safe economic path for the state. He said that Egypt's accession to the New Development Bank (NDB) opens new horizons for international development cooperation and partnerships with the BRICS grouping. This will be reflected in strengthening the government's efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals, in light of Egypt's Vision 2030. Marcos Trujjo, President of the New Development Bank, said: "We are pleased to welcome Egypt to the family of the New Development Bank as one of the fastest growing countries in the world, with a leading economy in the Middle East and North Africa, in addition to being a major player in international development finance institutions. We look forward to supporting and meeting Egypt's investment needs in the areas of infrastructure and sustainable development." It is noteworthy that the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa announced, six years ago, the establishment of the New Development Bank to mobilize resources to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS countries and other emerging economies and developing countries, and to work to integrate the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions to support development globally. The authorized capital of the Bank is $100bn and it is open for subscription by members of the United Nations. Since its establishment, it has agreed to finance about 80 projects in all member countries of the Bank, with a total development portfolio of about $30bn. The Bank is financing projects in the fields of transportation. Water and sanitation, clean energy, digital infrastructure, social infrastructure, and urban development. The Bank's strategy at the present time aims to expand its work geographically to become the first development institution to serve the economies of emerging and developing countries.
