Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 20 June 2021 - The Board of Executive Directors (BED) of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) held its 341 meeting, today, under the chairmanship of IsDB President, Dr. Bandar Hajjar.

The Board approved an amount of US$ 176.05 million in favor of the Construction of Metal Silos in Iraq, Construction of Atar-Chinguetti Road Project in Mauritania, Cotonou Storm Water Drainage Project in Benin, and a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Study Project for the Nigeria- Morocco Gas Pipeline Project .

It took note of the Bank's efforts to consolidate global value chains and the launch of the report on global value chains for the year 2020, entitled “Rebuilding Inclusive Global Value Chains as a Pathway to the Recovery of the Global Economy."

The Board was also informed that Fitch Ratings affirmed, for the 14th consecutive year, the Bank's AAA rating, with a stable outlook. This affirmation reflects the Bank's distinction in terms of capitalization and liquidity reserves, and its conservative approach to risk management backed by strong financial risk management policies, low solvency risks, and strong shareholder support. The stable outlook indicates that Fitch expects the Bank's financial position to remain very strong over the next 24 months, and the Board expressed its gratitude to the Member Countries for their strong support to the Bank.

The Board members also touched on the interactive role of the Bank through its effective communication with Member Countries and the impact of this on its effectiveness across the various sectors of socioeconomic development.

The Board reviewed a verbal update on the 6th General Capital Increase (GCI) of IsDB, and the annual evaluation report of the Bank’s Operations Evaluation Department for the year 2020.

The 2020 Annual Evaluation Report (AER) by the Operations Evaluation Department (OED) of the Islamic Development Bank which presents a synthesis of the evaluations of the IsDB interventions as well as Enabling, Learning and Outreach activities undertaken by the OED during 2020 was also discussed.

The AER contributes to creating a stronger performance measurement system and plays a pivotal role in institutionalizing a result-based management and the IsDB Group corporate scorecard. The OED undertook a rigorous assessment of the development effectiveness of the IsDB interventions and emphasized quality, relevance, timeliness and usefulness of its products, knowledge dissemination, and productive partnerships with peer institutions.

In the same vein, the members of the Board praised the great and creative efforts led by the President of the Bank throughout the last phase, which contributed to achieving the great transformations witnessed by the Bank which has been put on the paths of leadership at the level of multilateral development finance institutions.

On the other hand, the Board approved a series of new project financing submitted by the President of the Bank for the benefit of a number of Member Countries as follows:

The Republic of Iraq

• Providing an amount of US$ 22 million to the Government of the Republic of Iraq to cover the Construction of Metal Silos for Enhancing the Storage of Wheat in the Governorate of Maysan.

The project's development objective is to enhance food security by increasing the strategic wheat reserve in Maysan Governorate.

The project will contribute to enhancing food security in Iraq, which is one of the country's top priorities and is expected to lead to reducing malnutrition among vulnerable groups, including children, by strengthening the wheat value chain through developing post-harvest facilities.

Islamic Republic of Mauritania

• Providing an amount of US$ 33 million to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for the Construction of Atar-Chinguetti Road Project.

The project aims to improve the efficiency and security of transportation services between Atar-Chinguetti. It helps reduce the operational costs by 50 percent and slashes journey time by 50 percent. This project is a continuation of the Bank’s contribution to the development of the transport sector in Mauritania. It also complements projects financed by the Bank in the region, particularly, the road project between Atar and Tijikja, which was successfully completed in 2020.

The Republic of Benin

• Providing an amount of US$ 105.6 million to the Republic of Benin for Cotonou Storm Water Drainage Project.

The main objective of the project is to reduce the risk of flooding in selected areas of the capital, Cotonou, by building 13 km of drainage collection channels and paving 16 km of roads in order to support the existing drainage systems. The project will benefit 150,000 people from the residents of the five municipalities, 51 percent of whom are women, and will provide 600,000 job opportunities.

The Kingdom of Morocco

• Providing an amount of US$ 15.45 million for the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Study Project for the Nigeria- Morocco Gas Pipeline Project – Morocco.

The project aims to prepare the necessary studies for the gas pipeline and helps to make the final investment decision for the infrastructure project. It includes an agreement with all countries crossed by the gas pipeline linking Nigeria and Morocco to obtaining the permission to transit the pipeline in order to ensure the smooth implementation of works in the advanced stages, and to ensure that the project complies with all local and international environmental and social regulations and standards.