Jeddah, KSA-27.05.2013-The President of Islamic Development Bank, Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali calls for stronger cooperation with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The President stated this during an interactive session with a delegation from Nigeria’s Senate and House of Representatives, led by the IDB Governor for Nigeria, and the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama.
The President told the Nigerian delegation that he was happy with their visit, and hoped that this will strengthen the relationship between IDB and Nigeria.
In his remarks the Nigerian Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama told the President of IDB that Nigeria “wants to maintain its current position” of being among the top ten shareholders in IDB, adding that apart from Indonesia and Pakistan, Nigeria has the largest population in IDB member countries, and therefore the country is in need of IDB projects.
“During the financial crises, IDB was not affected”, Dr Ngama stated, while commenting on the strength of IDB as a financial institution.
The Nigerian delegation attended a special session led by IDB Vice President (operations) in which success stories of IDB projects in agriculture and microfinance were presented.
In his contribution, Deputy CEO of International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), one of the entities in the IDB Group, Mr. Hani S Sonbol told the Nigerian delegation that there is an excellent relationship between ITFC and Nigeria. He stated that US $320 million has been approved by the corporation for trade operations in Nigeria.