Jeddah, KSA, 29.01.2013 – A Libyan delegation comprising Finance Minister and IDB Governor for Libya, HE Al Kilani Abdel Karim El Jazi; Economy Minister, HE Mustafa Mohammed Abufunas; and IDB Board Member for Libya, HE Bader Abdullah Abuaziza met with IDB Group Chairman, Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali, and other senior IDB Group officials last week and agreed to increase existing volume of cooperation including establishment of an Islamic fund for medium and small institutions in Libya, exchange of
expertise in Islamic banking as well as the Bank’s participation in Libyan efforts to launch a border economic zone between Libya and Tunisia.

The Libyan ministers praised the active role of the IDB Group in countering the economic, investment and commercial challenges the country has been facing since the recent developments in the country.
The IDB Group Chairman expressed the Group’s readiness to mobilize all efforts to promote cooperation with Libya and enumerated the areas and initiatives in which the two sides could increase their cooperation. He cited the example of Islamic banking and expressed IDB’s preparedness to establish a forum of experts to study the experiences of countries in which Shari’ah- compliant banking has been adopted. Dr. Ali welcomed the consolidation of the Libyan private sector and stated that the Bank is
ready to organize a meeting of concerned bodies to familiarize the Libyan private sector with various IDB services.
Libya is amongst the major shareholders of the IDB and maintains shares in all IDB Group entities. The Islamic Development Bank has so far approved more than US$ 484 million towards financing projects in different sectors in Libya.