BRICS bank eyes Morocco for membership, seeks to expand global reach

EGYPT: The BRICS Group’s New Development Bank (NDB) is showing interest in welcoming Morocco as a new member, according to the bank’s Chief Operating Officer, Anand Kumar Srivastava. The bank is also preparing to finance its first projects in Egypt, which joined the bloc last year.

In an interview with Asharq Business, Srivastava indicated that the bank is open to Morocco’s potential membership. “At present, Morocco is not a member of the New Development Bank,” Srivastava said.

“Membership begins with the country contacting BRICS and then starting the process, after which they pay a share of the capital to become a full member, and then they can benefit from financing operations,” he added. “We hope that Morocco will become a member as well, because we are in the process of expanding.”

The COO made these statements during a conference in Rabat on Monday on government procurement that meets environmental standards. This marks the first official participation of the New Development Bank in a formal event in Morocco, despite the North African country not being a member of the organization.

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Representatives from several international development banks attended the conference, including the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the French Development Agency, which are among the country’s largest lenders.

The founding BRICS member states – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – established the NDB in 2015. Egypt, the UAE, and Bangladesh joined last year. A decade after its launch, the bank’s financing has reached $39 billion across 122 projects in member countries, according to Srivastava.

Interest in BRICS bloc membership has surged globally, with Morocco among the nations eyeing potential cooperation. Last December, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov revealed that Morocco was among more than 20 countries actively pursuing dialogue with BRICS.

“The doors of the association remain open to like-minded countries. At the moment, over two dozen more countries have shown interest in a dialogue with BRICS,” Ushakov stated, noting that countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Palestine, Syria, and South Sudan are among those interested.