Jeddah, KSA, 22.06.2014 – Preparations are under way at the headquarters of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Bank at Jeddah’s Hilton Hotel on June 24. The celebration will be attended by Ministers of Finance and Economy and Planning of the 56 member countries who will also be participating in IDB’s 39th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors (22-26 June, 2014) as well as other side events. A large number of
representatives from regional and international financing institutions, Islamic banks, national development funds, contractors and consultants unions in member countries will be present at the events.

IDB is an international financial institution established in pursuance of the Declaration of Intent issued by the Conference of Finance Ministers of Islamic Countries in December 1973. Its operation started in October 1975, soon after the first Board of Governors’ meeting in July, same year.
As an institution dedicated to economic development of its member countries as well as social progress of Muslim communities in non-member countries, the past 40 years of IDB is a development journey spanning many milestones of achievements, with 22 member countries at its inception rising to 56 as of to-date spreading across four continents. Its authorized capital has risen from US$ 3 billion, initially, to US$ 150 billion. A country that is a member in the Organization of the Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), pays the first instalment to the capital, and ratifies the terms and conditions of the bank, is eligible to be a member in the IDB.

With four regional offices in Rabat, Morocco; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Almaty, Kazakhstan; and Dakar, Senegal, IDB has grown from a single institution into a Group of integrated banking related institutions comprising the IDB itself, the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation
(ITFC). Operating its fiscal year based on the Hijri calendar and utilizing the Islamic Dinar (ID) as its unit of account (1 ID equivalent to one Special Drawing Right –SDR- of the International Monetary Fund), the total development financing provided by the IDB Group, to date, surpasses US$ 100 billion. Through its staunch development relations with the member countries, IDB has been able to maintain a steady credit rating of AAA for the past 12 years from the three major credit rating agencies
in the world. It has also been rated as a zero risk Multi-lateral Development Bank (MDB) by the Basle Committee for Banking and Supervision in 2004 and the European Union in 2007.

According to a report released on the occasion of the 40th anniversary, “These ratings provide the Bank with an excellent opportunity to mobilize the necessary financial resources from the international financial markets at the lowest possible cost, through Sukuk (Islamic Bonds) issuance.”
The report underlines the aspirations of the IDB to “become a World Class development bank by the year 2020, based on Shari’ah (Islamic) principles, that would contribute greatly to changing the face of human development in the Islamic world,” and states as its mission “to promote overall human development, particularly in priority areas such as: alleviating poverty, improving health, promoting education, improving governance, and prospering the nations.”