21 July 2015 Current Affairs
BRICS New Development Bank Starts Operations In Shanghai
The New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS has started its operations on 21 July in Shanghai, China.The BRICS countries consist of world’s major developing economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong and the bank’s first President K V Kamath from India attended the opening ceremony.
Maurice Obstfeld Appointed as Chief Economist of IMF
White House economic adviser Maurice Obstfeld was appointed as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Obstfeld succeeds Olivier Blanchard whose retirement was announced previously. He is expected to begin his work at the Fund on September 8, 2015.
China Builds World’s Largest Amphibious Aircraft
China has begun building the world’s largest amphibious aircraft. The AG AG-600’s maximum takeoff weight and flight range are better than other amphibious planes in the world. The amphibious aircraft, developed for sea rescue and firefighting missions, can takeoff from land or water and has a maximum takeoff weight of over 50 tons. With a maximum flight range over more than 5,000 kilometers, and an effective rescue radius of nearly 3,000 kilometers, the aircraft is also believed to have strategic value in the South China Sea, where China is embroiled in several territorial disputes. Russia and Japan are the only other countries in the world to have developed large-sized amphibious aircraft, though the AG600 is the largest of the three and has only taken six years to reach this stage since the project was initiated in 2009.