Dilma Rousseff begins to command Banco do Brics

H.E. Mrs. Dilma Rousseff, the NDB newly elected President, has started her first day in office in the NDB Headquarters in Shanghai, China. pic.twitter.com/JOLblXhhzQ

— New Development Bank (@NDB_int) March 28, 2023

Elected last Friday (24), Dilma will chair the NDB until July 2025. She replaces Marcos Troyjo, former special secretary of the former Ministry of Economy, who held the post since July 2020. An official inauguration ceremony for Dilma was scheduled for the end of this week, which would take place during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s trip to China. However, the postponement of Lula’s trip due to health problems, the ceremony was cancelled.

On the last 10th, the NDB announced the replacement of Troyjo by Dilma. The election on the bank’s Board of Directors took place two weeks later. Each BRICS country – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – chairs the bank for five-year rotating terms.

Challenges

According to specialists consulted by Agência Brasil, the new president of the Banco do Brics will have the opportunity to expand the international insertion in the institution, but will face two big challenges: promote projects linked to the environment and circumvent the geopolitical impact of Western retaliation against Russia, one of the founding partners.

Created in December 2014 to expand funding for infrastructure projects and sustainable development projects in the Brics and other emerging economies, the NDB currently has around US$32 billion in approved projects. Of this total, around US$ 4 billion is invested in Brazil, mainly in highway and port projects.

In 2021, the Bank of Brics was joined by the following countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.