Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been “unanimously elected” as the head of New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral financial institution set up by the five BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries, replacing Marcus Troyjo, who is also from Brazil.
Rousseff’s appointment as the Shanghai-headquartered NDB president was announced on Friday, two days before current Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva comes to China for a five-day visit to reset ties with his country’s largest export market.
The NDB is often referred to as the BRICS bank.
Rousseff will be part of the high-level official group coming with President Lula — who is considered her political mentor — who will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 28 in Beijing, according to a Reuters report from Brasilia, the first foreign leader to meet the Chinese leader since he secured a precedent-breaking third term as president earlier in March.
The new NDB president’s appointment was announced by the bank on Friday.
“On March 24, 2023, the Board of Governors of the New Development Bank (NDB) unanimously elected H.E. Mrs. Dilma Vana Rousseff as the President of the Bank, effective immediately, in full accordance with the Articles of Agreement of the New Development Bank and the procedures of the President election,” the NDB said in a statement on Friday.
In a press statement earlier this month, NDB had said: “NDB President Marcos Troyjo will step down by March 24, 2023. The Board of Governors of the NDB will then elect a new President nominated by Brazil, to fulfil the incumbent rotating mandate expiring on July 6, 2025. After the election, the new President takes office”.
The new NDB head brings to the table both political and diplomatic experience.
She was impeached for allegedly breaking financial laws – a charge she has consistently denied – during her second term as Brazil’s leader in 2016.
“As the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff focused her agenda on ensuring the country’s economic stability and job creation,” the NDB statement said, adding that during her government, “…the fight against poverty was prioritized, and social programs that started under President Lula da Silva’s (earlier) terms were expanded and internationally recognised.”
“As a result of one of the most extensive processes of poverty reduction in the country’s history, Brazil was removed from the UN’s Hunger Map,” the statement added.
Trained as an economist, Roussef was a key member in the Brazilian team, which participated in the negotiations leading to the creation of the NDB.
The first Board of Governors meeting of the NDB was held in Moscow, Russia on July 7, 2015 where it formally came into existence as a legal entity. India’s K.V. Kamath was elected the first president of the bank.
The NDB was established with the purpose of mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging market economies and developing countries, the bank says in its statement of purpose.
In 2021, NDB initiated membership expansion and admitted Bangladesh, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay as its new member countries.
The NDB has so far approved $7.2 billion for over 20 projects in India.
