Online Reporter
Judith Phiri [email protected]
THE Government has welcomed the decision by the Board of Directors of the New Development Bank (BRICS Bank) to authorise the commencement of formal negotiations on Zimbabwe’s membership.
This comes as official communication from NDB president Mrs Dilma Rousseff has confirmed the start of the accession process and outlined the next steps toward full membership.
In a statement on Friday, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Professor Mthuli Ncube said the milestone marks significant progress in Zimbabwe’s engagement and re-engagement agenda.
“It reflects growing international confidence in our economic reform programme, macroeconomic stability and private sector driven investment growth strategy.
“Membership to the New Development Bank is expected to strengthen Zimbabwe’s capacity to mobilise long-term development financing for key national priorities under the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), as espoused by President Mnangagwa’s philosophy of ‘leaving no one and no place behind’, and Vision 2030,” he said.
He said the national priorities include infrastructure modernisation, energy security, industrialisation, digital transformation, climate resilience, private sector growth and value chain development.
Prof Ncube said the commencement of formal negotiations also advances Zimbabwe’s broader efforts to deepen South to South win-win cooperation with emerging economies and integrating into the fast evolving global technological and financial revolution associated with BRICS.
“The Government remains committed to implementing bold reforms that promote sustainable economic growth, job creation, innovation and inclusive prosperity, while positioning Zimbabwe as a competitive and resilient upper middle-income economy,” he said.
“This important step reinforces Zimbabwe’s development trajectory and demonstrates growing momentum towards accelerated economic transformation, strategic infrastructure development and enhanced South to South economic integration in line with the country’s Vision 2030 aspirations.”
The BRICS Bank, officially known as the New Development Bank (NDB), has 11 member countries. It is composed of five founding members and six additional countries that have joined in subsequent expansion phases.
The full membership of the NDB includes founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and additional member states United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Egypt, Algeria, Colombia and Uzbekistan.
While the NDB was originally formed by the core BRICS nations, membership is technically open to any member of the United Nations.
This allows the bank to expand its footprint in the Global South by including countries that are not full members of the political and economic BRICS bloc.
