Rising from its Annual Meeting, held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from 9 – 10 Jumad Thani 1430H (2 – 3 June 2009), the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank took some important decisions that are set to strengthen and boost development efforts in member countries. Foremost of those decisions is the doubling of the Bank’s annual financing, bringing it to 30% annually over the next 3 years from last year’s rate of 15%. This would provide additional financing of US$1.5 billion over the next 3 years, including 1430H (2009). This is part of the Bank’s efforts to provide more resources to support the economic development needs of member countries in response to the challenges foisted upon them by the global financial crisis, requiring the Bank to mobilize additional resources from the money markets.

In this context, the President of the Islamic Development Bank, Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali, announced the Bank’s determination to issue a US$ 500 million Sukuk in the next few weeks.

The meeting of the Board of Governors had been inaugurated by H.E. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of Turkmenistan, in the presence of state senior officials and ministers as well as distinguished members of the Board of Governors representing 56 countries, heads of international, regional and Islamic financial institutions, national development funds, and members of diplomatic corps accredited to Turkmenistan.
The Board of Governors also decided to allocate the equivalent of 5% of its projected net income for the 1430H (2009) financial year to finance Technical Assistance grants for 1431H (2010), an amount that must not be less than US$ 5million. Approval was also given to allocate 2% of the Bank’s projected net annual income for the current year 1429H (2009) to the Bank’s scholarship programme for exceptionally bright students in the form of grants to be awarded in 1431H (2010). This amount will not be less that US$ 2 million and will be in addition to the financial allocations made to the programme from the Bank’s Waqf Fund. The Board of Governors’ meeting also ratified the Bank’s audited accounts and the accounts of Waqf Fund, the Waqf Properties Investment Fund, the World Waqf Foundation Fund for 1429H (2008), the audited accounts of the IDB Unit Investment Fund for 2008 financial year, and the balance of the Bank’s profit and loss account as at the end of 1429H financial year was moved the general reserve.
The closing session saw the election of H.E. the IDB Governor for the Republic of Azerbaijan as the chairman of the new session of the Board of Governors which begins today and will end with the conclusion of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors which, God willing, is scheduled to take place in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan.
As part of the events alongside the Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors, the 2nd meeting of the Board of Directors of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) was held. The ISFD is a Waqf (endowment) fund whose establishment was announced in June 2007 with a targeted capital of US$10 billion, in implementation of a resolution of the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held in Makkah in 1426H (December 2005). The Fund is aimed at addressing and alleviating poverty, providing employment opportunities, combating diseases and increasing education opportunities in OIC Member States.
Within the same framework, the 4th Annual Meeting of the General Assembly of the International Islamic Trade Financing Corporation (ITFC) was held.
Similarly the 6th Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Exports Credit (ICIEC), was held. There, approval was given for the accession of the Republic of Albania and the Sultanate of Oman to the Corporation.
The 9th meeting of the General Assembly of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) was also held. At the meeting, the Board of Governors of the approved the increase of the Corporation’s authorized capital from US$ 1 billion to US$ 2 billion. It also approved increasing the Corporation’s capital open for subscription from US$ 500 million to US$ 1 billion, in order to meet the growth demands of the Corporation and to strengthen its role in developing the private sector in the member countries.
Many other meetings and symposia were held alongside the Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors. These included the IDB’s 20th Annual Symposium entitled: “Shaping the Post-Crisis World: Regional Implications and Coordinated Response”. Major reform agendas that would shape the post-crisis world and their impact on the member countries were presented from various regional perspectives. Among the participants at the symposium were the IDB Governors for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Turkey, both of whom dealt with the agenda of the G-20 countries on the international financial structure, the International Monetary Fund and the Multilateral Development Banks. The discussion also touched upon the regional impacts of the crisis in the Central Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries. Another review of the reform agenda from the Islamic perspective was presented by Dr Rifat Ahmed Abdul Kareem, Secretary General of the Islamic Financial Services Council.
This Symposium provided an opportunity for the IDB Governors to brainstorm on the new challenges and to take common positions on them at the regional and international levels in the post-crisis world. It also allowed the IDB Group to harmonize its development assistance with the new needs of the member countries and to work earnestly to raise the volume of cash inflow, to boost inter-trade operation, to benefit from the resilience of Islamic banking in the face of the crisis, and from the representation of some member countries in the G-20.
The Supreme Council of the Al Aqsa and Al Quds Funds held its meeting under the chairmanship of H.E. the IDB Alternate Governor for the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria. The Council considered the past and ongoing role of the Al Aqsa Fund to reconstruct the Gaza Strip and considered the role of the Arab Funds in general in supporting development projects in Palestine. The Council extended gratitude and appreciation to Arab financial funds and institutions that strengthened the financial resources of the Al Aqsa Fund thereby enabling it to play its role of meeting the urgent needs of the Palestinian people. It singled out for mention the Arab funds that allocated US$ 60 million to support development projects in Palestine through its last annual meeting held last April at the Dead Sea in Jordan.
The Council appealed to Arab and Islamic countries that are yet to contribute to the capital of the two funds which were established by the resolution of Emergency Arab Summit held in Cairo in October 2000, to do so, knowing that support for these two funds represents a boost for the resilience of the Palestinian people and a mitigation of the impact of the occupation and the daily needs, incarcerations, blockades and destruction of infrastructure suffered daily by the Palestinian people.
The Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Funds explained that from the assistance presented through the Funds, about US$ 766 million has been disbursed on various development projects. These cover contribution to building thousands of houses, roads, constructing and rehabilitating schools and the supply of water and electricity. The assistance also went into providing healthcare and education to the categories of people most affected by the aggression. The Fund also upgraded and repaired hospitals, farmlands and provided irrigation water from wells, printed millions of schoolbooks and provided scholarships to enable students, male and female, complete their university education. Added to all of these is the provision of necessary soft loans for small businesses. The Fund also provided about US$ 460 million to support the budget of the Palestinian National Authority.
The Council commended the speedy provision by the Al Aqsa Fund of possible aid and assistance to our people in the Gaza Strip following the heinous aggression of last December. The Fund approved urgent relief programme for the occupied strip worth US$34 million, out of which US$ 5 million is for the provision urgent medical relief materials and food. The remaining US$29 million was allocated to support efforts to rehabilitate urgently the most affected public infrastructure in the Strip. The Al Aqsa Fund prepared a comprehensive report on the needs of the Gaza Strip reconstruction, the total amount of which has been estimated at about US$ 1.4 billion.
The President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali stressed the importance of decisions adopted by the Board, and they would, God willing contribute to strengthening the existing cooperation among member countries of the Bank to serve the interests and aspirations of our Islamic Ummah.
The IDB Board of Governors expressed deepest gratitude and appreciation to H.E. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, for personally inaugurating the 34th Annual Meeting of the IBD Board of Governors and for the extensive address he delivered at the opening session, which has been adopted as an official document of the Board.
The Board also expressed its profound gratitude and appreciation to the Government and people of Turkmenistan for the warm reception, generous hospitality and the excellent arrangements made to ensure the success of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors and all the other associated activities.