MOSCOW, August 22 — The head of the Brics New Development Bank (NDB), Dilma Rousseff, said today that the lender considers membership applications from 15 countries, four or five of which the bank is likely to approve, reported Sputnik quoting the Financial Times newspaper.

In her interview with the newspaper, Rousseff did not name the applicant-states, but said that the NDB’s priority is to diversify its geographic representation.

The Shanghai-based bank was established in 2014 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and has been later joined by Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Uruguay is currently in the process of joining the NDB. The bank’s goal is to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries.

The Brics group of major emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — will hold a summit in Johannesburg from August 22-24. The summit’s agenda includes economic relations, trade infrastructure and the potential switch to a common currency to reduce member states’ reliance on the US dollar. — Bernama-Sputnik