Jeddah, 14 February 2010 – Prior to the inauguration of the Jeddah Economic Forum, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) signed a groundbreaking US$1.5 billion framework cofinancing agreement that will strengthen their 30-year collaboration in supporting the world’s poorest people in common member countries. The agreement which was signed during a meeting between Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President of IsDB, and Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD – comes at a critical moment, when the international community has recognized that agricultural development is fundamental to feeding the world’s population.

Today, sustained investment in agriculture – especially smallholder agriculture – is acknowledged as the key to food security. Using their own resources, IsDB and IFAD will jointly finance priority projects in most of their common member countries under their respective three-year lending programmes for 2010-2012.

The two institutions hope that this cofinancing arrangement will attract additional funding from other development partners for joint interventions. With their shared objectives in the field of agriculture and rural development, the two institutions will focus their efforts on increasing productivity, yields, processing capacities and access to markets. Microfinance, combined with capacity-building and technology transfer, will enable hundreds of thousands of project beneficiaries to undertake a multitude of microenterprises and income-generating activities.

IsDB and IFAD are committed to working together to improve rural infrastructure, promote local economic development and enhance food security.