Jeddah, June 2, 2008 -- The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) announced today it is allocating US$1.5 billion to support efforts to meet immediate, medium and long term food crisis in its least developed member countries (LDMCs), though some programs will benefit other members as well. This was announced in the presence of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohamed Al-Khalifa,Chairman of the IDBBoard of Governors and Finance Minister of Bahrain.

“A financial package of $1.5 billion will be allocated to help provide food security in member countries,” Sheikh Ahmed said while addressing the opening session of the IDB 33rd Annual Meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The program, which will go over a 5-year period, known as Jeddah Declaration, is targeting needy countries in particular in various short term programs that include helping in building strategic inventory of food security, provide agricultural inputs, pesticides, fertilizers to help countries in the coming agricultural season, help provide fodder, agricultural machinery and equipment.

For the medium and long term, the program will work towards identifying projects that will enhance agricultural development in member countries through cooperation between public and private sectors, assess current projects to help them be more effective and support research institutes in the field of agriculture.

The program will also encourage partnership between member countries with private sector inside and outside those countries as well as with other regional and international development institutions.

The bulk of financing, or US$1.05 billion will come from IDB itself in the form of grants and soft financing. The IDB affiliates, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector (ICD) and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corp.will provide US$200 million and US$250 million respectively in areas related to their activities. The program will be carried out under the umbrella of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), launched last year.

The list of countries that will be targeted include: Afghanistan, Bangladesh. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Mozambique, Palestine, Senegal, Sierra Leon, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Togo, Uganda and Yemen.

IDB is a development institution established in 1975 with an authorized capital of 30 billion Islamic dinars (US$46 billion) to promote economic development and cooperation between its member states. Last year it approved 183 development projects and technical assistance amounting to US$2.7 billion, and 82 trade operations for US$2.8 billion