Anton Siluanov on the New Development Bank

The New Development Bank (NDB) will prioritise projects from the BRICS countries. Later on it may fund projects in other states as well. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov made this statement at a briefing following the first meeting of the NDB Board of Governors in Moscow.

Mr Siluanov said the Russian Finance Ministry will welcome the NDB's participation in projects financed from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and will offer the new development institution such projects, including those of Rosneft.

"Now that the flow of capital to Russia is restricted, foreign investment in some projects has been replaced with NWF money. Therefore, we would only welcome the interest of the newly-established financial institutions, such as the NDB or the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), in the projects carried out by our investors," Mr Siluanov said.

He added that the NDB and the AIIB could become concession participants in the funding of Silk Road investment projects.

Mr Siluanov believes such cooperation will increase the trade and economic performance of the participating countries.

He said the issue of establishing a currency union of the BRICS countries is not on the agenda. "Naturally, all BRICS member-countries pursue independent monetary policies, but a currency union can only be set up on condition of very close integration of their national economies. The formation of a currency union should be preceded by a host of measures on the integration of tax, budget and customs laws and technical regulations," he explained.

Mr Siluanov also said the NDB may invest in projects in Greece and other countries but not in the near future.

He said that the former head of the Indian Bank ICICI, Kundapur Vaman Kamath, has been appointed President of NDB.

The bank will have an initial authorised stock of $100 billion and subscribed capital of $50 billion, which will be evenly distributed between the founders. The paid-up capital will amount to $10 billion, and paid-up on demand, $40 billion. Russia intends to contribute two billion dollars to the bank in the next seven years. China pledged to contribute $41 billion, which will give it 39.5 percent of the votes.