The New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS will supplement the existing international financial system in a healthy way and is not a threat to it, said Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, at the opening ceremony of the bank, reported by People's Daily.

The NDB opened in Shanghai on July 22 to finance infrastructure projects, mainly in BRICS members.

BRICS countries are the world's major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. BRICS leaders signed an agreement to establish the bank during their sixth summit in Brazil in July, 2014. The bank will start operations at the end of this year or early in 2016.

As a major achievement in international finance, the establishment of NDB addresses the developing countries' huge infrastructure needs. Data released by the World Bank show that emerging markets and low-income countries face an annual gap of 1 trillion to 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars in infrastructure spending. Structural constraints caused by insufficient infrastructure have become a key challenge to the stable and sustained economic growth of these countries.

"As a supplement to the global and regional financial institution, the NDB will strengthen the collective financing power of relevant countries and better promote the development of developing countries," said Lou.