Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh H.E. Begum Khaleda Zia visited the Islamic Development Bank Group headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia . IDB Group President H.E. Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali received the former prime minister and her accompanying delegation. During the meeting, the former official extended her personal appreciation for the continued support rendered by the IDB Group to Bangladesh in different socio-economic development sectors while IDB Group president also underlined the importance the bank attaches to boosting mutual cooperation aimed at materialization of social and economic goals pursued by Bangladesh.
During a working session, the former prime minister received a first-hand account of efforts underway by the bank to support the IDB member countries and Muslim communities in non-member countries including IDB financed development projects in Bangladesh as well as trade operations in the country. The IDB President, while expressing satisfaction over the bank’s recent achievements in its successful handling of the global economic crisis and winning recurrent ‘AAA’ recognition by the leading international ratings agencies, also elaborated on the increase in IDB financings aimed at reducing the economic impacts of the crisis in a number of member countries.
The Islamic Development Bank Group has so far approved around US$ 6.8 billion of financings for Bangladesh in the form of 79 development projects in addition to trade operations and other services provided by IDB Group member corporations .