CAPE TOWN, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) will double its loan approval book from its current 8 billion U.S. dollars to about 16 billion dollars during 2019, the bank's president Kundapur Vaman Kamath said on Monday.

"In 2019, the bank will build on the strong momentum in our operations and aims to double its loan approval book to about 16 billion dollars," Kamath said at the 4th Annual Meeting of the NDB Board of Governors taking place in Cape Town.

The two-day meeting, under the theme of "Partnership for Sustainable Development," stressed the importance of strengthening collective efforts and partnerships to bridge the infrastructure gaps among BRICS countries.

The meeting also addressed the developmental needs of the member countries, developing countries and other emerging markets.

The NDB will place a greater emphasis on sustainable development and support member states in efforts towards this end, Kamath said.

Sustainability remains at the core of everything the bank does, he said.

According to Kamath, nearly 80 percent of the bank's lending was now in the transport, clean energy, and water and sanitation sectors, with urban development and environmental protection also forming a major part.

"We have also invested in building a strong and more diversified pipeline of projects for 2019," he said.

On Monday's meeting, the NDB signed an agreement with South African electricity utility Eskom, under which the former will provide the latter with a loan of 180 million dollars.

The loan will be used to support a project for renewable energy development and reduction of the country's reliance on fossil fuels.

The NDB also signed a 300-million-dollar loan agreement with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) for the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction and Energy Sector Development project.

The loan will be in a two-step form and will be on-lent to the DBSA's identified subprojects within the wind, solar and biomass energy sectors, in particular.

The NDB is a development bank established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Its annual meeting presented an opportunity to reflect on the global development agenda and the role NDB could play in financing infrastructure and sustainable development, organizers said.