NEW DELHI, March 4. /TASS/. The New Development Bank should create programs to support youth and social entrepreneurship, Tatiana Seliverstova, Director of the BRICS+ International Business Forum & BRICS Business Incubator, told TASS.

She is taking part in the annual women's meeting of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Indian capital. According to her, the women's business community is expecting decisive steps from the New BRICS Development Bank (NDB) on this matter.

"We are expecting a breakthrough in terms of real steps taken by the New BRICS Development Bank. Women leaders talk a lot about the need to create a fund within the NDB that supports social and youth entrepreneurship. These mechanisms will allow us to work more with each other, learn more about the economies of the two countries and implement specific projects," she said.

Seliverstova noted that "today, such support mechanisms do not exist within the BRICS framework."

"But we really need them and hope that the New Development Bank will hear us," she noted, stressing that many countries have already approached her with this initiative.

According to Seliverstova, following the meeting in New Delhi, a number of proposals will be sent to the NDB to support such initiatives related to youth entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and women's empowerment.

The New Development Bank was set up by BRICS nations on the basis of the intergovernmental agreement signed at the sixth BRICS summit in Fortaleza in July 2014. It has eight members, those being Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, and South Africa. The bank’s goal is to finance infrastructure projects and sustainable development projects in BRICS member states and developing countries. The bank has its own capital worth $100 bln.

Since its founding, the bank has approved more than 100 projects totaling over $34.8 bln in support of such areas as transportation, water, clean energy, digital and social infrastructure, as well as urban construction. The bank is headquartered in Shanghai.