BRICS cements its solid future in Shanghai

Work on the new office of the BRICS New Development Bank, set up by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is fast nearing completion in Lujiazui, the financial district of Shanghai and is expected to start operations this month.

Nominations for the bank's president and four vice-presidents are going on and the names for the various positions would be finalized by the end of this month, said a report in the Oriental Morning Post on Thursday, citing sources who have close knowledge of the plan.

The report said that China intends to nominate Zhu Xian, vice-president of the World Bank, as vice-president of the BRICS New Development Bank.

Zhu Xian is currently vice-president and chief ethics officer in the Office of Ethics and Business Conduct at the World Bank. He joined the organization in 2002 as country director for the Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste (based in Sydney) and then was country director for Bangladesh (based in Dhaka), according to the World Bank website.

Zhu also worked in the Ministry of Finance in various capacities and at the Asian Development Bank.

The first president of the bank will be nominated by India and will have a term of five years. Brazil, Russia and South Africa will nominate a vice-president each.

The inaugural chairman of the board of directors will be from Brazil and the inaugural chairman of the board of governors from Russia. The Secretariat of the BRICS New Development Bank is in the eighth floor of the China Finance Information Center in Lujiazui, a hub for financial institutions.

About 50 rooms are currently undergoing renovation to house the Secretariat, and the facility should be ready by the middle of this month, the sources said.

BRICS member countries signed an agreement to establish the $100-billion New Development Bank, and a reserve currency pool set at $100 billion. China is expected to contribute the largest share of $41 billion, while Russia, India and Brazil will contribute $18 billion each. South Africa is expected to chip in with the balance $5 billion.