Jeddah, 13.09.2012 – At its 285th meeting that started last Sunday at IDB headquarters in Jeddah, the Board of Executive Directors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) chaired by HE Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, IDB Group, approved around US$ 425 million to finance development projects in member countries and for Muslim communities in non-member countries.
The approvals include an amount of US$ 176 million to support a regional food security program in seven of IDB member countries in the African Sahel region (this is in addition to an expected package of US$ 140 million from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation/ITFC, one of the affiliate institutions of the IDB Group, for the same program).
Other operations approved in that meeting are: US$ 84.8 million for a Water Supply Project in 8 provinces of Morocco; US$ 25 million for Vocational Education and Training for Employment in Tunisia; US$ 24 million for Post-conflict Reconstruction and Community Development Project in Cote d’Ivoire; US$ 20.3 million for Saida City Infrastructure development Project in Lebanon; US$ 15.9 million for support to the Expansion of Health Coverage in Rural Areas Project in Mauritania; US$ 10.3 million
for Microenterprise Development Project in Maldives; US$ 6.2 million for Basic Education Support Project in Djibouti; US$ 5 million for Sustainable Villages Program in Mozambique; US$ 5 million for Vocational Literacy Program for Poverty Reduction in Chad as well as a US$ 1 million technical assistance grant to develop a Urban Agriculture Pilot Incubator Project in Bahrain. The Board approvals also included grants under the IDB Waqf Fund, in contribution to the financing of education projects
for Muslim communities in five non-member countries (Kenya, Russia, Bosnia, Burundi and the United States of America).
The Board meeting also took note of operations approved by the President: a 50 million package for youth employment support in Libya in addition to a US$ 320,000 Technical Assistance grant for the same project; US$ 95,000 Technical Assistance grant for Sustainable Villages Project in Kyrgyz Republic and US$ 5 million for the East Africa Regional Dry-land Project in Djibouti.
The Board also discussed IDB Group’s medium term strategic plan for 2013 – 2015 and various policy matters, particularly relating to risk management.