Uzbekistan will become a member of the New Development Bank (NDB) within BRICS, according to a statement from the country's presidential office.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with Dilma Rousseff, chair of the NDB, who was in Uzbekistan to attend an event in Tashkent.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the development of cooperation between Uzbekistan and the bank, noting their satisfaction with the bank's board of directors' approval in principle of Uzbekistan's membership in the NDB in the coming period and the creation of a total of $5 billion in joint projects for Uzbekistan in the first stage, as part of the implementation of the agreements reached at last year's BRICS summit, the statement said.

Mirziyoyev emphasised the importance of implementing joint projects in priority areas such as the modernisation of irrigation systems in the country, the development of the mining sector, the financing of the private sector, and the promotion of public-private partnerships in the education and infrastructure sectors, it said.

Uzbekistan became a partner country of BRICS last year, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Indonesia.

BRICS established the NDB in 2015 to create an alternative to the IMF and the World Bank and to support the process of de-dollarisation in member countries.