Nearly twenty guests addressed the round-table session: Challenges and Opportunities for NDB, presided by President Chen Dongxiao, including Minister Lou Jiwei, South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Chairman of China Development Bank Hu Huaibang, Chairman of NDB Board of Director Luis Balduino, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Lenni Montiel and vice president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) D.J. Pandian. The session centered on two key issues: current global economic situation and its effect on NDB, and infrastructure and sustainable development, on which guests gave a variety of different opinions. More than 100 people were in attendance at the session, including delegates of NDB member states and the international institutes concerned and domestic and foreign guests. Dr. Yang Yanqing, deputy editor-in-chief of China Business News (CBN) and managing director of CBN Research Institute, presided at the high level seminar on “New Development Bank: A New Way Forward”. More than 10 representatives from the upper echelons of NDB, government section, financial sector and academia gave speeches and exchanged opinions with audience, among whom were vice presidents of NDB Zhu Xian and Paulo Nogueira Batista Junior, Ambassador Liu Youfa (also a visiting research fellow at SIIS), deputy director general of the Shanghai Municipal Financial Service Office Li Jun, chairman of the Bank of Communications Niu Ximing, Dr Xu Mingqi (a researcher at the Institute of World Economy at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences). Vice president of NDB Leslie Maasdorp made concluding address. During the session, speakers discussed aspects related to NDB’s progress in a year, its developmental strategy, the construction of Shanghai International Financial Centre and etc. Attendees reflected the progress NDB made during one year since its establishment, and agreed that the new-born multilateral development bank was a qualitatively different kind of development institution in essence. They also offered advice and suggestions on the future strategies and operation methods of NDB in facing the challenges and opportunities posed by the rapidly changing economic, financial and technological environment, and explored the issue of the cooperation between NDB and Shanghai. Shanghai had been a constant support of NDB for its establishment and operation, and as the first international financial institution headquartered in Shanghai, NDB would correspondingly play a crucial role in enhancing the city’s status as a global financial centre.
 
The annual meeting has been the second depth cooperation for Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS) and NDB since last year in July, SIIS participated its formal establishment and launching ceremony. As president of SIIS Chen Dongxiao mentioned that, think tanks and research institutes of BRICS countries like SIIS were duty-bound to support NDB provide the knowledge service. They should make concerted efforts to give advice and suggestions on constructing NDB’s knowledge function, and to contribute to the innovation, communication and transmission of knowledge together, in order to supply more intellectual common goods for achieving the goal of global sustainable development and promoting South-South cooperation. Guest opinions
 
Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli pointed out that NDB’s establishment was the outgrowth of several factors: the rapid rising of the emerging markets, the increasingly close economic and trade relations among developing countries, a more stable foundation for South-South cooperation and the deepening reform of global economic governance. NDB should vigorously support infrastructure construction and sustainable development in BRICS countries and other developing countries in five aspects, making itself a supplement conducive to current global and regional multilateral development institute. 1. Widen new space of BRICS countries’ cooperation to facilitate trade interflow, industrial complementation and mutual economical boost; 2. Build a new platform for mutual global development to propel depth convergence of global and regional industrial chains; 3. Develop a new pattern of comprehensive partnership of cooperation to strengthen multilateral development institutions as a whole; 4. Innovate a new model of financing to leverage more social capital for infrastructure construction; 5. Improve the new order of global economic governance to elevate the status and influence of BRICS and the great majority of developing countries.
 
Minister Lou Jiwei remarked that the current global economy was suffering a slow and uneven recovery. The economic trends and macro policies of major economies divided while growing difficulties and risks facing emerging markets loomed large, which brought multilateral development banks (MDB) both new opportunities and challenges. All parties concerned should think highly of MDBs, give considerable scope to MDBs and encourage MDBs to increase loaning capacity to assist quality infrastructure projects in the interests of continual economic growth in medium term and long term. Lou also made several suggestions, such as providing low-cost capital for member states, taking account of both projects’ efficiency and quality, emphasizing intellectual collaboration to increase added value. He encouraged NDB to actively rise to challenges, and contribute to global economic recovery. The first president of NDB Mr. Kamath briefed on NDB’s operation and expressed his thanks for China’s strong backing for NDB during one year since its establishment. He said that in today’s world of non-linear development, developing countries were hopeful to ‘overtake on the bend’. Therefore NDB would firmly hold green investment and sustainable development as its core ideas and adapt to non-traditional development model by structuring internal organization of the bank on the one hand, and exchanging views more frequently with other institutions on the other hand. NDB, as a new MDB, would play a positive role in supporting the sustainable development of member states, devoting to giving full play to technology yield while constantly challenge traditional concepts at the same time. Serving as the first president, Mr Kamath commended that NDB combined the vitality of a new institution and wisdom and experience from other established institutions and wished to have support from all parties.
 
The vice president of NDB Zhu Xian stated that NDB shared the same general goal with other MDBs. From the perspective of global infrastructure projects, the current MDBs had not met the need of market, and the business competition would improve the market environment. NDB aimed to promote sustainable development under multilateral structure, which consisted of several concrete goals, such as an institution which was customer-centred, demand-oriented and problem-solving and respected each country’s sovereignty and conditions etc.
 
Ambassador Liu Youfa, non-resident research fellow of SIIS put forward his expectation, which comprised eight points. 1. Facilitate the development of sustainable economy; 2. Proactively respond to potential financial crises; 3. Control the outflow of capital, avoiding volatility of financial markets in member states; 4. Enhance economic fundamentals; 5. Guarantee transparency and accountability; 6. Cooperate with African Union to bolster mutual development; 7. Lay stress on internal risk control, acting within the limit; 8. Apply financial innovation to sustainable development.
 
The vice president of NDB Leslie Maasdorp emphasized that NDB was the first global financial institution paying close attention to emerging markets. Secondly, he said the whole member should endeavour to make it an actual global bank, and open to the world from its start. In the initial stage, NDB should focus on building up its capacity rather than expanding speed, which was demonstrated by keeping simplified personnel and a flexible structure, and adding members gradually step by step. He also underscored that an important working mode of NDB was to fully utilize local capital to advance local development, thus catering to local market.