Maduro says ordered gov’t to speed up procedures required for Venezuela to join NBD

Caracas, Sep 12 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that he had ordered the government to facilitate procedures required for joining the BRICS New Development Bank (NBD).
“We are going to start the process [of accession]. I have ordered Financial Minister and Executive Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez to take all necessary steps and measures to facilitate submission of Venezuela’s application to join the BRICS bank,” the president said on the “WithMaduro +” (“Con Maduro +”) program.
On Sunday, Maduro met with the lender’s head, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. On September 6, the financial minister also held a meeting with the bank’s executive.
Maduro has repeatedly voiced Venezuela’s intention to join the BRICS bloc. In August, he announced that Venezuela had formally applied to join the BRICS group and was expecting a positive decision on the matter.
In March 2013, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed to establish the development bank at the fifth annual BRICS summit held in the South African city of Durban. InJuly 2014, the BRICS states gathered at the next summit in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza and signed an agreement on the establishment of the bank. The NBD came into existence in July 2015 during the inaugural meeting of the bank’s board of governors in Moscow. NBD’s main objective is to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS member countries.