Jeddah, 16.1.2011 : The President of the Islamic Development Bank, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, stated today that the level of intra-trade between the OIC Member States has risen to 17% and the goal of 20% that has been set by the Islamic Summit in Makkah in 2005 to reach 20% by 2015 is about to be achieved.

The IDB President was addressing a Donors Meeting which was hosted at IDB Headquarters to discuss the Program for Regional Cross Border Trade Facilitation and Infrastructure Project for Mashreq Countries. The objective of the Program is to enhance trade between the concerned countries and between these countries and the rest of the world.

Dr. Ali went further to say that the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) will set a new goal to raise the level of intra-trade up to 30%. The President also said that the IDB is one of the earliest International Financing Institutions that helped to enhance and improve trade between Member States.

He also stated that the size of trade finance processes that the IDB implemented since 1975 was more than (US$42) billion. “This is through intensive programs set by the IDB to finance exports and imports and also through The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to improve and increase the size of trade between the Member States and between other countries over the world,” he added.

In turn Ms. Shamshad Akhtar, Vice President Middle East and North Africa Region the World Bank, who attended the meeting, addressed some current issues faced by Arab economies and which affect economic situation such as persistent unemployment among the youth, low competitiveness and productivity, and low quality of education and skill base.

It is worth mentioning that the meeting looked into the possibility of financing specific projects over the next five years as part of a broader 15-year Program. Both the Program and the proposed projects are built on the recommendations of a recent World Bank’s study, which in turn took account of extensive previous work by United Nations ESCWA, the European Union (through its Euro med scheme), the World Bank and other international and bilateral organizations.

The target projects are designed to reduce trade impediments and address major transport infrastructure constraints (both physical and non-physical barriers). The World Bank has estimated that, if fully implemented, by 2020 the program could increase the total non-oil international trade of the Mashreq countries by up to US$4 billion annually, and bring intra-Mashreq trade up to 22% of that total (compared to the current 17%).

The cost of the program implementation is expected to be substantial. It is estimated that the proposed projects during the next five years would cost about U$300 million per year, and that the overall program would cost about U$6 billion over 15 years. These amounts are beyond the capacity of any single country or investment institution and will need to be addressed collectively, with funding also being made by private investors where feasible.