Jeddah, KSA, 25.05.2014 – During his visit to the capital city of Astana, Kazakhstan, Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, signed with Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister, HE Karim Massimov, a US$ 2 billion framework agreement aimed at enhancing cooperation between the IDB Group and the Republic of Kazakhstan within the next three years (2015-2017). The agreement follows a similar 2012-2014 partnership document signed earlier between the two sides, towards
bringing sustainable and comprehensive development to Kazakhstan in all sectors.

The signing took place on the side lines of the 7th Astana International Economic Forum which was inaugurated by Kazakhstan’s President, HE Nursultan Nazarbayev, on 23.05.2014. The 3-day forum, which coincided with the 4th meeting of the economy and finance ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in the city of Astana, was attended by nearly 10,000 participants representing 130 countries and a great number of regional and international multilateral development institutions.

In his keynote speech, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali stated: “The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group strongly supports HE President Nazarbayev’s initiative in establishing the Islamic Organization for Food Security in the framework of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to be headquartered in Astana”. The IDB Group Chairman then praised Kazakhstan’s prevailing good economic status with an expected income per capita of US$ 16,000 by 2015. Touching upon the current global economic situation,
Dr. Ali underlined that global stability shall not prevail as long as about one third of the world population are poor and left without proper nutrition and housing, and unemployment figures are soaring, particularly amongst the youth and women. He stressed on the need for paying more attention to inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and narrowing the gap separating the poor from other social segments. “This is what the IDB Group is seeking to achieve”, he stated, calling on the participants to
come up with ideas and recommendations for enhancing sustainable socio-economic development.

Later in the day during his speech at the 4th ECO ministerial meeting, the IDB Group Chairman lauded the existing level of cooperation between ECO and the IDB Group benefitting development efforts in the member countries of both bodies in central and western Asia. He specifically pointed out the significance of operations aimed at facilitating intra-trade, joining of power grids as well as food security enhancement efforts amongst the ECO member states.

While in Astana, the IDB Group Chairman discussed ways for promotion of ongoing cooperation between IDB Group and Kazakhstan in separate meetings with the Kazakh Prime Minister, as well as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Industry and New Technologies and IDB Governor for Kazakhstan, HE Aset Issekeshev.

Since joining the IDB in 1995, Kazakhstan has received US$ 1.2 billion worth of financing from the IDB Group inclusive of 22 projects in such sectors as agriculture, education, roads, and water supply in addition to foreign trade financing.