Jeddah, KSA, 21.04.2014 – Supporting the Tunisian economy, enhancing investment and financing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) came in focus at a meeting in Tunis between H.E. President Moncef Marzouki of Tunisia and Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, Chairman, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group.

Also present at the meeting were Sheikh Saleh Kamel, Chairman of the Union of Islamic Chambers of Commerce and Industry and a number of CEOs of Islamic banks in West Africa who were in Tunisia to attend an international workshop on economic empowerment through Islamic Micro-finance jointly organized by Banque Zitouna of Tunisia, Tunisian Ministry of Economy, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the IDB Group.

During the visit, the IDB Group Chairman signed an MoU with Banque Zitouna to launch a specialized institute for Micro-finance in Tunisia and contribute nearly US$ 23 million to Banque Zitouna’s capital as part of IDB’s efforts to support Islamic banks. IDB has so far contributed US$ 425 million to the capital of 34 Islamic banks in different parts of the world.

The Tunisian President commended IDB Group’s efforts to open up more investment opportunities in the African continent in general and Tunisia in particular which has an abundance of investment opportunities.

Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali underlined the keenness of the IDB Group to contribute to the programs of the Tunisian government aimed at reducing unemployment, fighting poverty and promoting development efforts across the country. He commended the Tunisian government’s efforts to enhance economic cooperation with other African countries particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Ali presented a progress report on the Sub-Saharan Freeway Project that connects Tunisia, Algeria, Chad, Mali and Niger
to which the IDB Group is a major financier.

Tunisia is a founding member of the IDB. To date, the IDB Group has contributed US$ 3.6 billion to Tunisia inclusive of US$ 1.6 billion for infrastructural projects, US$ 1.3 billion as financing foreign trade operations from the ITFC (International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation), US$ 756 million for insuring import and export operations from ICIEC (Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment & Export Credit), as well as US$ 27 million financing for development projects from ICD
(the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector).