Kuwait : Monday, May 29, 2006

427/ 1/5/1427H
28/5/2006

The Board of Executive Directors of the Islamic Development Bank, which began its 238th Meeting in Kuwait City on Sunday 28 May 2006, expressed deep sorrow and sincere condolences to the brotherly people of Indonesia in the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck the City of Bantul in the Java region of Indonesia yesterday, killing and wounding thousands of people. The Board approved an urgent grant of USD 1 million for the Indonesian government to help in the relief efforts for the victims. This is to be followed by additional assistance from the Bank for rehabilitation of infrastructure and reconstruction, once the situation has been assessed and discussed with the Indonesian government.

On this occasion, the President of the Islamic Development Bank, Dr Ahmed Mohamed Ali, announced that the Bank will, in the next few days, make the necessary contacts with the Indonesian Government to determine the scale of destruction to infrastructure in the Java region. He also stated that the Board has decided in principle to extend this urgent assistance to help supply medicine and necessary food to the earthquake victims.

The IDB had earlier announced the allocation of the sum of USD 500 million to assist the countries affected by the tsunami disaster of which the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia was the worst affected. Of that money, the amount allocated for reconstruction and relief for victims of the tsunami disaster in Indonesia was about USD 400 million.