The New Development Bank established by the BRICS has planned to raise its lending to Bangladesh development projects to $1 billion this year, a senior official of the Shanghai-based multilateral lender said yesterday.

Vladimir Kazbekov, a vice president of the NDB, said the bank has approved $320 million for the implementation of the Expanded Dhaka City Water Supply Resilient project, but this year it wants to more than triple the funding in view of Bangladesh's development needs.

The NDB official made the comments when he called on the Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, at the State Guest House Jamuna in Dhaka.

The NDB is a multilateral development bank established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) in 2015.

The chief adviser appreciated the role of the new multilateral lender, saying it can make a significant contribution in upgrading its development infrastructure.

Kazbekov said the lender was also committed to making major support for the infrastructure development of the gas sector in Bangladesh.

The NDB was also interested in lending substantially to the country's private sector in an effort to strengthen their capacity, the NDB vice president said.

Prof Yunus stressed NDB lending in social infrastructure such as housing facilities for thousands of workers in the country's booming economic zones.

Kazbekov said the bank has introduced multi-currency lending, which will benefit Bangladesh.

Shahriar Kader Siddiqi, the secretary of the Economic Relations Division, said the NDB should focus on introducing country strategy programmes on Bangladesh in an effort to align its funding with the development priorities of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Investment Development Authority Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, SDG Coordinator Lamiya Morshed and ERD Secretary Shahriar Kader Siddiqi were also present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, leading US investors in Bangladesh, represented by the US-Bangladesh Business Council, met Yunus. They expressed their commitment to champion a growing Bangladesh-US economic partnership and to help catalyse and support mutually beneficial commercial relations between the two nations.

The delegation was led by Peter Haas, former US ambassador to Bangladesh, and strategic adviser at Excelerate Energy, and included representatives from Meta, Visa, Chevron, Uber, MetLife, Mastercard, Boeing and the US Soybean Export Council. Excelerate Energy chairs the board of directors of the US Chamber of Commerce's US-Bangladesh Business Council.

The meeting focused on strengthening trade and investment ties between the two countries.

"US companies have a long-term commitment to the growth story of Bangladesh, one that is anchored in resilience, entrepreneurship and long-term prosperity," said Haas.