China welcomes India's nomination of BRICS bank head

China on Tuesday welcomed the naming on Monday by India of K.V. Kamath as the first head of the New Development Bank (NDB).

China hopes Kamath will soon head to Shanghai, where the bank's headquarters will be, and lead the pre-management group in charge of the BRICs-led bank, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a routine press briefing.

Kamath is credited with turning the ICICI Bank into one of India's largest private lenders during his 13 years as managing director and CEO.

He also spent several years working at the Asian Development Bank and is currently non-executive chairman of both ICICI and Indian software giant Infosys.

An interim board of trustees has been appointed to oversee the operationalization of the NDB, South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said in a speech to parliament on Friday.

During a BRICS summit held in Fortaleza, Brazil, last July, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa signed agreements to establish the development bank and a contingent reserve arrangement.

The NDB will have initial authorized capital of 100 billion U.S. dollars, and its initial subscribed capital of 50 billion dollars will be equally shared among founding members, according to the Fortaleza Declaration.

As the host country of the NDB office, China will provide full support to the establishment of the bank as well as Kamath's work in Shanghai, said Hua.

BRICS nations agreed that the bank would have a president from India and four vice-presidents from the other BRICS member countries.

Hua said China had nominated Zhu Xian as its vice president.

Zhu Xian is currently vice president and chief ethics officer in the Office of Ethics and Business Conduct at the World Bank. He also worked in the Ministry of Finance in various capacities and at the Asian Development Bank.

"With sound experience in international cooperation, we believe that Zhu will collaborate with his colleagues to speed up the establishment of the bank and make it operational as soon as possible," said Hua.

Hua said the founding of the NDB was a milestone in the financial cooperation among BRICS nations, with profound significance in promoting infrastructure construction and sustainable development in BRICS nations and other developing countries.

It is important to the reform of global economic governance, she said, adding it will be a useful supplement to existing global and regional multilateral financial institutions. Endi