Singapore : Tuesday, September 19, 2006

H.E. Dr Ahmed Mohamed All, President Islamic Development Bank, reiterated the commitment of the Islamic Development Bank Group to forge further collaboration with the development community in the common cause of social emancipation and economic progress of the poor and the underprivileged people in the developing world. He was delivering a statement at the 74th meeting of the Development Committee of the World Bank which took place in Singapore on 18 September 2006 in conjunction with the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Development Committee is an international forum of the World Bank in which a number of developing and developed countries and International Financing Institutions participate to discuss matters affecting emerging development issues in the areas of governance and anti-corruption, lending to the middle income countries, etc.

The main agenda items on this year's Development Committee Meeting were (i) Strengthening Bank Group Work in Governance and Anticorruption and (ii) Strengthening the World Bank's Engagement with IBRD Partner Countries. In addition, the Committee reviewed progress reports on various aspects of interest to the members in the Development Committee. These Reports provide insights in terms of enhancing the effectiveness of assistance provided by multilateral development banks, including the IsDB Group.

H.E. the President also briefed the Committee on the recent economic performance of the IsDB member countries and identified further areas for cooperation and partnership with other partner countries.