Istanbul, Turkey, 08.10.2012 – The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group presented three progress reports on the activities of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), the Special Program for the Development of Africa (SPDA), and the operations of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) as well as IDB Group’s WTO-related technical assistance and capacity building programs at the first day of the 28th session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial
Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC). The meeting is being held in Istanbul, Turkey, during 8 – 11 October under the patronage of HE Dr Abdullah Gul, President of the Republic of Turkey. The President of IDB Group, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, is expected to address the meeting on Wednesday, 10 October, 2012.
The IDB Group presentation on SPDA illustrated that operations till the end of the second quarter of 1433H (corresponding mid 2012) have exceeded the planned level. The cumulative financing since 1429H (2008) has exceeded US$ 4.5 billion covering 423 operations, almost 113% of the planned financing.
On eradicating poverty, the ISFD report stated that to-date it has approved 29 projects having a total cost of US$ 1,062 million. ISFD contribution in these projects was US$ 172 million while the remaining amount of US$ 890 million was mobilized from IDB, governments and other financiers. The major beneficiaries of ISFD’s funding were IDB’s Least Developed Member Countries (LDMCs) which obtained nearly 80% of the total financing.