Interview: China's role in BRICS, Global South critical, says NDB vice president

SHANGHAI, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- China plays a very critical role within the BRICS mechanism and is "providing leadership to the emerging markets in the Global South," Leslie Maasdorp, vice president and chief financial officer of the New Development Bank (NDB), has said.

China, as the largest economy within BRICS, is "beginning to play a much more important and assertive global leadership role with respect to the climate agenda," Maasdorp told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Maasdorp noted that China is now in an economic transition towards high-quality growth that "focuses much more on the green, sustainable content."

"There's a bigger focus on inclusivity, making sure that the rural-urban divide is reduced," he added.

"The long-term ingredient for (China's) growth is certain still. It's a robust economy, still the industrial engine and the factory of the world, producing most of the export goods that can go all over the world," said Maasdorp.

Holding high expectations for this year's BRICS Summit in South Africa, Maasdorp said that "every year when the summit is held, there's always been attention to broaden the reach beyond only the BRICS countries."

With many African countries to attend, the summit provides a good chance to explore the further expansion of the bank's membership, he said.

"South Africa, as the host of the summit, will provide an important platform for us to speak to more countries especially African countries, where the development gap in terms of the financing need is the largest globally," said the vice president of the NDB, adding that the bank's Africa Regional Center in Johannesburg will serve more African countries.

The bank also hopes to deepen dialogue with other development finance institutions to co-finance large projects, and looks forward to engagement with the private sector, he said.

The bank successfully issued its first South African rand-denominated bond in the South African bond market on Tuesday.

It is an aspiration of the bank to provide lending in U.S. dollars, euros as well as other currencies, especially the local currencies of the member countries, said Maasdorp.

"We started here in China with renminbi bond issuance in 2016. And now we've become the largest issuer of panda bonds here in China," Maasdorp said, noting that "in time, we intend to do the same in (Indian) rupee."

Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2015, with the purpose of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries, so as to complement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development.

In 2021, the NDB initiated membership expansion and admitted Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay as its new member countries.