Amaravati: Mekapati lauds role of multilateral banks in fighting poverty

Amaravati: Minister for industries, commerce and information technology Mekapati Gautam Reddy said multilateral banks are playing a crucial role in fighting poverty, supporting economic growth, and ensuring sustainable gains in the quality of people's lives in developing countries.

He was addressing a virtual conference on 'Business opportunities with largest sources of funding'. Senior officials from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB), the New Development Bank (NDB), chief secretary Aditya Nath Das, president of the FTCCI Ramakanth Inani, president of the FAPCCI C V Atchut Rao and the members of FTCCI and FAPCCI participated in the conference.

The minister recalled that India is one of the founding members of the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and very recent Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB).

The World Bank assistance in India started from 1948 and of ADB's assistance in 1986. India became a founding member of AIIB from 2016 and holds the second largest shares after China. India has received $4.35 billion from the bank, the highest for any country.

In June 2020, AIIB approved USD 500 million for Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund and Health Systems Preparedness Project and another USD 750 million for Covid-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support, in a co-financing arrangement with the ADB.

The pandemic has shown just how critical multilateral development banks (MDBs) are in moments of crisis.

The Andhra Pradesh government focused on investing in resources to secure future by creating hard infrastructure such as industrial corridors, industrial parks, ports, airports and others coupled with the soft infrastructure such as improving the educational facilities, improving the health care, skill development and capacity building so that our youth are well equipped to reap the benefits of industrialisation.

The minister recalled that the ADB is on board with the Visakhapatnam Chennai Industrial Corridor Development Program (VCICDP) to enhance industrial growth and create high quality jobs.

The World Bank is funding Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agriculture Resilience through Innovative Development (REWARD) project in five parched districts of Rayalaseema.