As Chair of the Board of Governors of the New Development Bank, I am pleased to welcome you to the 11th Annual Meeting of the Bank. We held the first meeting of the Board of Governors of the New Development Bank in Moscow in 2015, and today we are holding the Annual Meeting here. This year, we face an important task – to determine the trajectory of the Bank’s development for the next five years.
Over the past 15 years, the economies of developing countries have been growing faster than those of developed countries by 2.5 percentage points annually. Maintaining such dynamics requires investment in high-tech infrastructure. This concerns not only roads, ports, energy and water supply, but also the introduction of a digital component, which makes it possible to reduce costs, increase capacity and improve labor productivity.
It is advanced technologies – artificial intelligence, new materials and energy solutions – that today provide the greatest multiplier effect in the economy. At the same time, developing countries receive a greater effect from increased public spending on R&D than other countries. Let me give you the figures: every dollar spent by a developing country on science and R&D generates about 2.3 dollars of GDP growth, whereas in developed countries this figure is approximately three times lower. In turn, every dollar invested in fundamental scientific discoveries, according to our estimates, is capable of bringing up to 11 dollars of gross domestic product growth. And the involvement of private capital in science-intensive developments and fundamental discoveries is a key factor.
In the era of new technologies, innovation and the introduction of artificial intelligence, the task of BRICS is to use all available instruments for the qualitative growth of economies, as well as to create conditions under which an idea turns into technology and into modern jobs. We must consolidate resources: the financial capabilities of some participants, the research base of others and the production capacities of others.
Combining our efforts will allow us to overcome the target threshold of R&D investment of 2% of gross domestic product through the synergy of our efforts. According to the latest estimates, the potential for expanding the technological development market in the BRICS countries amounts to more than 400 billion dollars annually.
The New Development Bank should play a key role in such financing, especially in assembling high-quality projects. After all, even where there is strong science and a strong engineering school, it is not always possible to bring a technology from the laboratory to a scaled-up modern product that would be in global demand and generate sustainable export revenues.
The Bank is now faced with the task of moving to a new level in order to increase infrastructure financing, become a key expert in the technological development of our countries, and skillfully combine existing solutions to develop the technological potential of the BRICS countries through the exchange of experience and best practices.
The New Development Bank also has an important role to play in unlocking the energy potential of our countries. Nuclear power plants and small modular reactors are becoming the energy base for consumers of artificial intelligence and the capacities associated with them, primarily data centers. I welcome the Bank’s decision to begin financing nuclear projects.
The Russian Federation, as the host country, considers it important that our discussion be focused on developing practical solutions. The priorities we are discussing should be reflected in the Bank’s operations, in its project portfolio, and in the specific indicators of the Bank’s new Strategy. This directly determines how much the New Development Bank will be in demand among the countries of the Global South and what contribution it will make to the development of our economies.