BRICS Bank 'Proud to Support' Judicial Reform Project in Russia - Vice-President

XIAMEN (China) (Sputnik) — The NDB announced on August 30 its board of directors had approved a $460-million loan to Russia for the development of infrastructure and implementation of information technology systems of the judicial system in the country.

"Look at the project that we approved in Russia. It's the project to support the reform of the judicial system in Russia. But notice that we are not in the business of recommending policies or reforms, we are just supporting the infrastructure and the IT part of the project," Batista said.

​Batista stressed that it was the second part of the project that was initiated by Russia with the World Bank.

"And then when the sanctions kicked in in 2014, the World Bank was led by the major shareholders to stop cooperation with Russia. So Russia presented this project, which is a priority for Russia, to us. We are stepping in to develop the project which is valuable and which has not been taken over by the World Bank for political reasons. NDB is proud to do it," the NDB vice-president pointed out.

The aim of the Judicial Reform Support Project for Russia is to strengthen judicial transparency and efficiency in courts financed, according to the information provided on the World Bank website.

The NDB was established by the five BRICS member states — namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — in July 2014, to finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects both within BRICS and other developing countries.