South Africa appoints two representatives to BRICS New Development Bank

The Government of the Republic of South Africa has appointed Leslie Maasdorp as Vice President and Tito Mboweni as Non-Executive Director of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announced on 30 June.

Mr Mboweni previously headed the South African Reserve Bank, with Mr Maasdorp serving as his advisor for three years.

Earlier, the South African Parliament ratified the agreement on the NDB and a Contingent Reserve Arrangement for BRICS. According to the Finance Minister, the NDB will be put into operation by the end of 2015. The creation of the African Regional Centre within the BRICS NDB framework is also making progress, Mr Nene said, adding that the centre will start looking into projects on the African continent as soon as the NDB is launched.

Formally, the NDB leadership is to be approved at a meeting of the Board of Governors, scheduled to take place in Moscow during Russia's BRICS Presidency, before Annual Summit in Ufa on 7 July. Kundapur Vaman Kamath of India will become the bank's President, a representative of Brazil will chair the NDB Board of Directors, and Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will be Chairman of the Board of Governors.