| PROGRAMME | |
| DAY ONE (21 November 2013) |
| 08:00 | Registration |
| 09:00 | Chairman’s introduction |
| 09:15 | Keynote Address |
| 10:00 | Morning Refreshments |
| 10:15 | BRICS Development Bank: a step forward |
| 11:00 | Perspective on the feasibility of establishing a BRICS Development Bank |
| 11:45 | BRICS Development Bank: priorities and competencies |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 14:00 | BRICS Development Bank and enhancing development, trade and investment |
| 14:45 | BRICS Development Bank and direction it should adopt to supplement the existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institution for global growth and development |
| 15:30 | Afternoon Refreshments |
| 15:45 | The BRICS Development Bank as the lender of choice for Africa and come up with the basic infrastructure required to build up a competitive industrial sector across Africa |
| 16:30 | Panel discussion on what the world needs from the BRICS Development Bank? |
| 17:00 | End of Day One |
| DAY TWO (22 November 2013) |
| 09:00 | Chairman’s introduction |
| 09:15 | Addressing key issues in establishing technical commitments, capital, membership, governance structures and domicile issues |
| 10:00 | Morning Refreshments |
| 10:15 | Understanding and taking a closer look at criteria for lending and the conditions attached to loans |
| 11:00 | Financing larger and cross-border infrastructure-type projects to promote regional integration and regional market building |
| 11:45 | Reviewing alternative models of cooperation to finance projects: taking a closer look at how BRICS Development Bank can supplement infra funds provided by World Bank |
| 12:30 | Lunch |
| 14:00 | Roadmap and response on forecasting risks facing developing countries and devising an appropriate counter-strategy against imminent risks |
| 14:45 | BRICS Development Bank: relevance, capacity and how would the BRICS Development Bank work? |
| 15:30 | Afternoon Refreshments |
| 15:45 | Who would benefit from a BRICS Development Bank? |
| 16:30 | Panel discussion on how the public and private sectors in BRICS countries could be expected to seize the opportunities and evolve collaborations |
| 17:00 | End of Conference |
The need for an economic impetus to overcome infrastructural bottlenecks to ensure sustainable development across BRICS member countries as well as the creation of a development bank that will provide initial funding for infrastructure projects worth USD 4.5 trillion is pertinent. Attend this conference to be updated on a new parallel path that will build massive infrastructure as well as sharing of perspective on a roadmap to establish a development bank.
With a similar viewpoint, Dr Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank president, recently welcomed the prospect of a BRICS development bank to help meet massive infrastructure needs in the middle-income countries. In short, the creation of a development bank by the five big emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as the BRICS, is welcome. The key emerging economies are forging a new parallel path by discussing plans for a new development bank, most critically to find fresh perspective on the feasibility of establishing a development bank. Nevertheless, the fact, however, remains that an exclusive BRICS Development Bank, is still a long way off because of the differences among the five BRICS member states on issues including establishing technical commitments, governance structures, domicile issues as well as responses on capital and membership. Nevertheless, BRICS Development Bank holds promise as it would play a critical role in advancing infrastructure funding to promote development and regional integration, including its crucial role to fuel development, trade and investment among BRICS and other developing countries. As it is, infrastructure projects give people access to opportunities, especially infrastructure projects such as more roads, airports, bridges, sewers, power plants, schools and hospitals need building or upgrading, thus BRICS Development Bank is a global tool for mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries. It is able to come up with a diagnostic arm tasked with forecasting risks facing developing countries and enable the bank to devise an appropriate counter-strategy against imminent risks. The BRICS Development Bank opens up opportunities. However, there is still the need to ensure the objectives are fully implemented, which indicates that many issues still need to be resolved. To take this proposal of creating a development bank further to fruition, more work is needed. As such, taking the spirit and concept of a BRICS Development Bank, BRICS Development Bank for Infrastructure Projects Conference 2013 is a timely platform for policy makers, business leaders and industry players to discuss, explore and making a decisive move towards a roadmap to set up a development bank to give it a real substance and credibility as well as a timely platform to share fresh ideas and perspectives before the BRICS leaders are expected to meet for the next summit in Brazil in March 2014 where the final document on setting up the bank could be ready and from then on it could take a few years to start operations of the bank.
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