On the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin met with Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank established by the BRICS countries.

From the Russian side, the meeting was attended by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ms Rousseff, colleagues, friends.

I am very glad to see you here, and first of all I want to congratulate you on your re-election to the position of the head of the New Development Bank.

This means that all members of the bank highly appreciate your work. Indeed, recently, the NDB has approved and financed approximately 120 projects worth $39 billion.

Of course, some issues require special attention. I mean the expansion of the possibility of settlements in national currencies, and further joint efforts to create a digital platform for settlements and investments.

At the last summit of BRICS leaders, we also talked about this in detail. I am aware that you also support all these initiatives, and I really hope that we will work together in these areas.

We are very glad to see you at the Economic Forum in St Petersburg. Welcome!

President of New Development Bank Dilma Rousseff (retranslated): First of all, I would like to thank you for the invitation.

I am very glad to be here, in St Petersburg, at the international economic forum, for the third time now. The first time I was in 2023, then in 2024, and now, in 2025, I am here again, which I am very happy about.

I would also like to thank you for the fact that the Russian Federation proposed my candidacy for re-election as the NBR president. For my part, I will do everything possible and make every effort to fulfil my duties in this post as best as possible.

Of course, we face a number of challenges. As you, Mr President, correctly said, these are mutual settlements in national currencies, as well as the creation of digital platforms for the implementation of mutual settlements, including in local currencies. Currently, there are various mechanisms that make it possible to tokenise mutual settlements.

The second very important issue, which I would like to touch on, is the expansion of member countries of the International Development Bank, as well as the addition of new member partners of the bank.

Two countries have already been selected as new members: Uzbekistan and Colombia. And two more countries are still under consideration: Ethiopia and Indonesia.