Jeddah, KSA, 22 February 2022 – Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) President and Group Chairman, H.E. Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, says the AAA-rated international financial institution is ready to enter into a viable partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO) in areas like capacity development, youth economic empowerment, decent work in crisis response, and fragile states, South-South and Triangular (SSTrC) as well as Islamic finance.

He made the remarks on 22 February 2022 while addressing a virtual panel discussion on ‘Jobs and Inclusive Economic Growth’ in the framework of the ILO-hosted ‘Global Forum for Human-Centered Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis.’

Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic that swept the world in the last two years, the IsDB President explained how the crisis has impacted the member countries through a decline in total GDP growth in 2020 and soaring unemployment in many member countries, especially among women and youth.

He then went on to underline that in response to the difficult challenges facing its member countries, the Bank has recently updated its strategy to support its 57 member countries, benefitting more than 1.7 billion people across four continents. “The updated strategy,” he said, “is based on boosting recovery, tackling poverty and building resilience, and investing in green economic growth through sustainable infrastructure and inclusive human capital development.

Highlighting the importance that the bank attaches empowering and promoting human capital, Dr. Al Jasser elaborated that the IsDB Group has adopted a unique Sustainable Finance Framework that seeks to unleash climate-friendly operations by availing financing models in tailored social and green projects. “Through this framework, we successfully issued EUR1 billion Green Sukuk (Islamic equivalent of bonds) in 2019 and a US$ 2.5 billion Sustainability Sukuk in 2021, the largest of the kind to finance green and social development projects,” he noted.

Furthermore, he touched upon youth and women empowerment as a priority for the Bank, adding that the IsDB introduced the Youth Development Strategy in 2019 and Women Empowerment Strategy in 2021 to support women and youth in member countries, creating promising economic opportunities and mainstreaming their needs into the Bank's sectoral operations.

“Moving forward, the Bank will utilize innovative financing to expand social protection and support entrepreneurship. IsDB will also help speed up the pace of technology absorption to reduce the digital divide, continue to work in the education sector and create more green jobs for women and youth,” he noted while urging for sustainable partnerships to overcome the crisis, support a just transition, and promote longer-term economic development.

“We will continue to work with all MDBs, IFIs, UN specialized agencies, and other international and national development partners towards improving people's lives via a human-centered approach during and beyond recovery to support people in our member countries,” he said.

The panel discussion which was followed by an interactive Q and A session included other high caliber speakers namely; Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO); Dr. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF); Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO); Dr. Beth Dunford, Vice-President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, African Development Bank; Ms. Michele Parmelee, President, International Organisation of Employers/Deloitte Global Deputy CEO and Chief People and Purpose Officer  (employer representative); and Mr. Luca Visentini, ETUC General Secretary (worker representative).