Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 19 January 2021 – The headquarters of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), in the city of Jeddah, on Tuesday played host to a high-profile meeting between the visiting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan H.E. Mohammad Haneef Atmar and H.E. Dr. Bandar Hajjar, President of IsDB.

 At the meeting, Dr. Hajjar expressed appreciation to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the excellent cooperation and continuous support provided to the IsDB Group.

He then briefed his high-profile guest on the current status of the IsDB Group financed projects in Afghanistan as well as the prospects for future new projects in different sectors including agriculture. 

Commending the ‘Self-Reliance Accelerator Package’ as a constituent of Afghanistan’s 10-year Development Plan called: ‘Transformation Decade (2015-2024) as well as the country’s National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF) 2017-202, the IsDB President gave assurances to the Minister that the Group is well aware of the country’s developmental agenda and is keen to provide support through identifying viable strategic interventions.

H.E. Mohammad Haneef Atmar, for his part, praised the role IsDB has been playing in Afghanistan’s socio-economic development and expressed hope that the ongoing constructive cooperation would even expand further in different sectors.

Since inception, the IsDB Group’s net approvals for Afghanistan stand at US$ 157.7 million comprising US$ 144.8 million in loans and US$ 12.9 million as special assistance supporting the country in transportation, energy, finance, and agriculture.

The 100-bed Cardiovascular Diseases Hospital and Four Clinics Projects, and the Construction of Kabul City Ring Road Project as well as comprehensive cooperation on eradication of polio are amongst the most recent IsDB projects in Afghanistan while the Bank, through its Regional Hub in Turkey, has been conducting a remarkable expanse of activities to regularly facilitate technical and scientific capacity sharing for medical doctors, engineers and technicians from the country via its South-South cooperation initiatives.