Jeddah, KSA, 13.09.2015 – The President of the Republic of Indonesia, HE. Joko Widodo, on a visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, received the Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, in Jeddah.

During the meeting, the Indonesian President praised the fruitful and constructive cooperation between his country and the IDB Group and underlined his government’s desire to see IDB Group’s operations in Indonesia increased further thereby enhancing the existing relations in various economic and social arenas. President Widodo emphasized the importance of supporting more infrastructural and agricultural projects in his country in the framework of Indonesia’s development plan. The Indonesian President welcomed the holding of the 41st Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors in Jakarta during 18-19 May 2016 which, he said, would represent an embodiment of the good relations between the Republic of Indonesia and the IDB Group.

The IDB Group Chairman gave a brief on the activities of the Group in the Republic of Indonesia as well as the excellent partnership between the two, which currently extends beyond, through transfer of Indonesian knowledge and expertise in various fields from Indonesia into other IDB member countries. Dr. Ali spoke about the ongoing preparations for the Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors to be held in Jakarta, and extended an official invitation to HE President Joko Widodo to grace the opening ceremony and highlight Indonesia’s development efforts.

The IDB Group Chairman further touched upon the significance of activating the Arab-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce which could facilitate joint investment between Indonesia and IDB member countries; the importance of the South-South cooperation and the role of Indonesia, as well as the IDB Group’s willingness to cooperate with the Indonesian Center for Afro Asian Cooperation to build capacity in IDB member countries. Dr. Ali stressed that IDB is focusing on the Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) for Indonesia to support the country in Islamic banking, private sector projects and programs as well as micro-finance. He also mentioned IDB’s support for Indonesia’s plan to host the next meeting of the Arab Coordination Group in Jakarta as this will boost investment and economic relations between the Coordination Group and Indonesia and further promote the country’s cooperation with the Arab world.

It is worth mentioning that the Republic of Indonesia has been maintaining solid cooperation with the IDB Group. To date, the volume of IDB Group’s approved operations for Indonesia stand at nearly US $4.2 billion which include contributions to financing important development projects in sectors like education, health, transportation, communication, industries, mining, power generation, agriculture, water supplies, rural development, and Islamic banking as well as financing numerous foreign trade operations between Indonesia and other IDB member countries in line with the IDB Group’s efforts to enhance the volume of intra trade amongst the member countries.

The IDB Group is currently devising its Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) with Indonesia for the period 2015-2019 which focuses on major sectors of high priority as stipulated in the country’s mid-term development plan recently approved by Indonesia’s Ministry of Planning and Development.

It is expected that IDB Group’s strategic partnership with Indonesia in the next five years would reach nearly US $5 billion.