Jeddah, 11/12/2006.
Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, the President of the Islamic Development Bank, opened the 60th meeting of the Coordination Group on Monday at the IDB headquarters in Jeddah. The Group consists of a number of national and regional development institutions in the Arab region, in addition the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Islamic Development Bank. The meeting discussed a number of important items, including conformity of financing procedures of the Group, information exchange among the Group’s members on existing and new projects, assistance and grants offered by members with a view to avoid duplication and determine priorities in addition to the interventions in Palestine. The Group also held a sideline meeting with the Lebanese Government delegation headed by H.E. the Chairman of the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction to discuss the support to reconstruction efforts in Lebanon.
In his address the President of the Islamic Development Bank commended the development achievements in many countries, and said that these achievements are a source of pride to all. He singled out as an example the participation in financing the Senegal River Basin Development Program, one of the major development projects in West Africa. The brave decision to participate in this important development program encouraged other international financing institutions which were hesitant at first to follow suit. He also commended the contributions in implementing a number of successful development projects in Central Asian Countries immediately after they gained independence from the former Soviet Union. The Countries which have benefited from the financing operations are greatly appreciative of these brave initiatives. This calls for more efforts and intensive cooperation with regional and international financing institutions in order to implement more development projects through co-financing for the benefit of member countries.
The IDB President also spoke about the latest developments witnessed by the Bank. Among the most notable of these was the establishment of a high level commission consisting of prominent Muslim personalities under the chairmanship of Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, to formulate a vision for the strategic challenges which confront the Bank and its future role up to 1440H (2020).The Bank is now considering methods to turn this vision into actions so as to rise up to these development challenges and deal with regional and international economic changes.
The IDB President told the participants that the Board of Governors of the Bank in its meeting in May in the State of Kuwait took steps to implement the resolutions of the Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit meeting held in Makkah Al Mukarramah a year before. The BOG issued a resolution authorizing the establishment of a fund to combat poverty with resources of about US$ 10 billion. He also referred to another BOG resolution to increase the authorized capital of the Bank by ID 15 billion to reach ID 30 billion (approx. US$ 40 billion) and to raise the subscribed capital by ID 6.9 billion to reach ID 15.8 billion (approx. US$ 21 billion).
Concluding address, the IDB President expressed his hope that these resolutions would strengthen the financing capability in the framework of the Coordination Group in order to achieve the lofty objectives of the Group and lend support to development efforts for the benefit of humanity in general.
The Coordination Group is composed of the following national and regional development institutions: the Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwait Fund for Development, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND), OPEC Fund for International Development and the Islamic Development Bank.
The Coordination Group, which was established in 1975, seeks to reinforce development efforts and joint action among its member institutions and funds. It discusses issues of common interest such as appraisal, financing and monitoring of projects and co-financing. It also aims at achieving harmony and conformity of the policies and procedures which govern its financing operations. Since its establishment, the Group has been meeting regularly twice a year at the level of operation managers of its member institutions. The meetings are held every six months and hosted alternately by the member institutions.