MOSCOW, February 19 (RAPSI) - On February 20, the State Duma plans to ratify an agreement regarding a bank for the development of the BRICS countries, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin told journalists on Thursday.

“Our agenda for tomorrow includes a bill on establishing a new development bank by member states of BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. I believe this will be an important contribution to BRICS activity during Russia’s presidency in the organization,” Naryshkin said.

“I hope that our partners will also ratify the agreement this year and that the bank will provide funding for its first project,” he added.

The Russian Finance Ministry expects that the BRICS development bank will be launched by the end of 2015, according to Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak. The 2015 federal budget already allocates funding for the bank. It is assumed that Russia will contribute $2 billion over the next seven years.

The agreement on the BRICS bank was signed in June 2014 in Fortaleza, Brazil. The bank is expected to become a major international development institution with $100 billion in assets. It was set up to finance infrastructure projects both in BRICS countries and in developing countries.