The Islamic Development Bank Group is vigorously aiming at expanding the scope of its partnership, said HE Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, addressing the 36th Annual Meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where a delegation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was also present.
The 36th Annual meeting of the IDB Board of Governors convened in Jeddah on June 29th and 30th with 56 ministers of Economy, Finance and Planning from IDB member countries in attendance, chaired by the Honorable H.E. Governor and Minister of The Arab Republic of Yemen, His Excellency Dr. Abdul Karim Al Arhabi.

The guest of honor at the annual meeting H.E. Dr Ibrahim Al Assaf, Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and IDB Governor, inaugurated the meeting and expressed gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and HRH the Crown Prince for the kind efforts and support accorded by the Kingdom which has made IDB Group a thriving and successful organization. He further stated his pride over the achievements of the Islamic Development Bank Group and its remarkable contributions to developmental projects lauding the Bank’s ability to make the right decisions at times of crises citing that the IDB has lately increased its efforts in providing immediate relief as well as addressing the issue of unemployment, vocational training, education and food security.
In his opening statement President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, HE Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, welcomed the participants and thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for his patronage and sponsoring of the meeting and for the excellent arrangements made by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia upon short notice since the decision was made to hold the meeting in Jeddah describing it as another indication of KSA’s pioneering role and profound commitment to fostering joint Islamic action and support for economic and social development of the Islamic Ummah. Dr. Ali further thanked the IDB member countries for their support for the Bank which has eventually helped the institution to maintain its distinguished AAA rating by all international rating agencies and to sustain the growth of its project financing operations at a very considerable rate before, during and after the global financial crisis.
The role IDB can play concerning the issue of the Arab youth and the competitive opportunities that lay ahead of them as well as the viability of Islamic Banking were also brought up by the President underlining how member countries can contribute to utilizing their economic resources, geo-political position, beliefs and culture so as to attain the status they deserve and respond to global demands. Referring to the IDB Vision 2020 as a vision for human dignity, the President asserted the Bank has taken strategic initiatives aimed at combating poverty and unemployment. He added that the global financial crisis has been the best answer to the doubts of the skeptics whose model led to financial, monetary, economic and social chaos. “The financial crisis has shown one of the wonders of the revelation by showing the harm of engaging in fictitious transactions for quick material gains, the dangers of giving loans without securing adequate guarantees, and the repercussion of the failure to safeguard the people’s financial rights”, said the President. Turning to IDB’s efforts for furthering the campaign against poverty, Dr. Ali touched upon the memorandum of understanding he has signed with the head of Colombia University's Earth Institute, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, with the objective of benefitting from its millennium village experience based on which IDB has embarked on the initiative of Sustainable Villages Program through its poverty reduction arm, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, ISFD. Elaborating on the latest status of operations of the ISFD, President of the IDB Group called upon all member countries who pledged or made contributions to respond to the Islamic Summit chairman's appeal for reviewing their contributions. “The activation of this Fund requires resources set by your august assembly at US$ 10 billion. Short of this, the Fund would be incapable of fulfilling its role of achieving the millennium goals and becoming an effective instrument for combating poverty in its member countries”, said the President. Dr. Ali concluded his remarks by elaborating on a five-pronged roadmap for his next four years as IDB president mainly focused on spearheading “balanced and responsible development, creative regional cooperation, investment in knowledge, consolidation of Islamic Banking and economic empowerment of productive families”.
A delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development attended the meeting to seek ways and means of cooperating with the IDB and its Governors concerning the decision taken by the European Bank in its annual meeting held in Astana to expand its activities to the Arab region