UAE broadens BRICS finance role at Mumbai meetings

The UAE has backed closer financial coordination among BRICS members and supported the New Development Bank’s next five-year strategy during high-level meetings in Mumbai, reinforcing its expanding role in multilateral development finance.

The Ministry of Finance said the country took part on Thursday in the second meeting of BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors and a special meeting of the New Development Bank’s Board of Governors. Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, led the delegation, which also included ministry officials and representatives of the Central Bank of the UAE.

The finance ministers and central bank governors adopted a joint statement and discussed priorities facing emerging and developing economies, including stronger economic coordination, digital transformation, innovation and reforms intended to support growth. The UAE said it viewed BRICS as an important platform for coordinating positions on financial and economic issues of shared concern.

Al Hussaini said the group provided a framework for strengthening international economic cooperation at a time when emerging and developing economies face significant challenges. He said the UAE supported continued cooperation aimed at a more inclusive and balanced global economic and financial system.

A major outcome of the Mumbai meeting was the launch of the BRICS-NDB Knowledge Portal, a joint platform designed to consolidate technical work, policy experience and development practices generated across BRICS working groups and the New Development Bank. NDB President Dilma Rousseff inaugurated the portal, which is intended to support knowledge exchange, innovation and South-South cooperation.

The UAE said it was prepared to contribute national expertise, case studies and best practices to the platform. It also welcomed the establishment this year of the BRICS Task Force on Growth and Development, stressing the value of continued work on digital transformation, innovation, labour mobility, future skills and growth-enhancing reforms.

Abu Dhabi also called for stronger coordination between successive BRICS presidencies so that initiatives begun under one chairmanship can be carried forward and produce longer-term results. The emphasis reflects a wider concern within multilateral forums over continuity in programmes that depend on annual rotating leadership.

At the New Development Bank meeting, governors discussed the institution’s General Strategy for 2027-2031, which will set its priorities for the next five years. The UAE welcomed progress on the strategy, particularly proposals covering technology and innovation, financing for projects that enable digital transformation, stronger climate-finance targets and greater representation of women.

The discussions come as the NDB seeks to expand its role in financing infrastructure and sustainable development across emerging markets and developing economies. The bank was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and has since admitted additional members, including the UAE.

Established in 2015, the Shanghai-based lender says its mandate is to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries, complementing the work of existing multilateral and regional financial institutions. Its membership now comprises ten countries.

The UAE joined the New Development Bank in October 2021 and became a full BRICS member in January 2024. Its participation in the Mumbai meetings therefore forms part of a broader effort to increase its involvement in institutions that shape development finance and economic coordination outside traditional Western-led frameworks.

The Knowledge Portal had been proposed at the first BRICS finance and central bank deputies’ meeting in February and was formally endorsed at the first finance ministers and central bank governors’ meeting in August. The NDB said it would operate the platform with successive BRICS chairships and continue adding material on projects, policy tools and development experience.

The portal already groups material across areas including infrastructure finance, clean energy, climate resilience, transport, manufacturing, agribusiness, social infrastructure and technology. It also provides information on NDB projects and financing across member countries, giving policymakers access to a common repository of development experience.