Jeddah- 30-5-2007
The Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which concluded its Thirty Second Annual Meeting on Wednesday 30 May 2007 in Dakar, Republic of Senegal, launched the multi-billion dollar Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, which aims at combating poverty and its causes in IDB member countries.
President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal launched the US$ 10 billion Fund which has been established pursuant to the BOG resolution at its 31st Annual Meeting in Kuwait, in fulfillment of the resolution issued by the 3rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Makkah in December 2005, which mandated the BOG to establish a Fund within the IDB Group to alleviate poverty. The launching took place at a special event organized during the official opening ceremony on 29 May 2007.
Their Excellencies the Presidents of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Guinea and the OIC Secretary General attended the official launching of the Fund. Other dignitaries who attended the launching of the Fund were the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IDB H.E. Mr. Abdoulaye Diop Senior Minister of Economy & Finance of Senegal, H.E. Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President of the IDB Group, as well as Ministers and Governors of the IDB Board.
During the ceremony, delegations took the floor to support the Fund. Thereafter, President Wade asked the delegations which had already announced their contributions to confirm their pledges, and requested other governments and delegations to announce new pledges.
Delegations of the following member countries took the floor to announce their respective contributions to the Fund:
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia US $ 1,000,000,000.00
State of Kuwait US $ 300,000,000.00
Islamic Republic of Iran US $ 100,000,000.00
State of Qatar US $ 50,000,000.00
Republic of Algeria US $ 50,000,000.00
Malaysia US $ 20,000,000.00
Islamic Republic of Pakistan US $ 20,000,000.00
Republic of Sudan US $ 15,000,000.00
Republic of Senegal US $ 10,000,000.00
Kingdom of Morocco US $ 5,000,000.00
Islamic Republic of Mauritania US $ 5,000,000.00
Burkina Faso US $ 2,200,000.00
TOTAL US $ 1,577,200,000.00

Lastly, President Wade expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the governments which have contributed to the Fund and appealed to other governments which have not yet done so to contribute to the Fund. He also appealed to the governments which have already announced their pledges to increase their contributions to the fund.

In conjunction with the 32nd annual meeting of the IDB Board of Governors, a number of other meetings were held. These included the 14th Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the 7th Meeting of the General Assembly of the Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD), and the second meeting of the General Assembly of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).

Also a number of other activities and events were held. These included the 18th Annual Seminar for IDB titled: "Capacity Building for Promotion of Trade and Investment in Africa". The seminar which was attended by a number of well-known economists and personalities, explored the best ways and means of promoting the capacities of member countries in the African continent to develop trade and investments to boost economic cooperation and push forward the countries of the continent towards development.

A symposium on the "Development of the Islamic Financial Sector" also was held, in addition to other important seminars on promoting and developing the private sector in Africa, knowledge-based economy and lowering unemployment.

In the closing session of the annual meeting the IDB prize for Islamic banking and financial services for 1427H (2006) was presented to the winner, Dr. Abdel Salam Al Abbadi from Jordan in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the development of the concept and practice of Islamic financial services.
IDB prizes in Science and Technology for 2007 was presented to three institutes, namely the National Institute for Agricultural Research in Rabat, Morocco, Institute of Higher Studies in Basic Sciences in Zangan, Iran, and Food Technology Institute in Dakar. The value of each prize is US$ 100,000.
To enhance the role of women in development, the Bank established a new prize entitled ‘Women’s Participation in Development’. This year the prize of US$ 50,000 was divided equally between two ladies from Sudan in recognition of their efforts in education of poor rural girls, while the prize for women and non-governmental organizations, valued at US$ 100,000 was presented to two women societies from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen for their efforts in improving the economic and social life of women through their computer projects in both countries.
The BOG reviewed the 32nd Annual Report of the Bank, approved the audited financial statements and appointed external auditors for next year. It also considered allocation of a percentage of the Bank’s net income for technical assistance operations and the Merit Scholarship Program in member countries, and appointed the Procedures Committee for the 33rd Annual Meeting which will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, next year.
As reviewed in the two-day event, cumulative financing approved by IDB Group as of Dhul Hijja 1427H (January, 2007) stood at US$ 46 billion. Of this amount 38.9% was allocated to project financing and technical assistance, 59.7% for trade financing and 1.4% in the form of grants for Muslim communities in non-member countries for financing education and health projects.
More than 600 people participated in the IDB Annual meeting representing international and regional financial institutions, in addition to representatives of Islamic banks, national development financing institutions and contractors and consultants from OIC member countries.