Jeddah,2/08/04
The Board of Executive Directors of the Islamic Development Bank which concluded its 224th Session at the Bank's Headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, commended the initiative of HRH Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz made during the 10th Islamic Summit held in Kuala Lumpur in October 2003 and decided to submit a draft resolution on the matter in the forthcoming Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Tehran, Iran (14-15 September 2004) on the need for increasing the trade between OIC member countries from the present modest level.

During the Session the Board approved US$ 362 million towards project financing, trade operations and special assistance programs. H.E. Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, IDB, who chaired the Session, stated that the above mentioned amount was approved in favor of a number of member countries and Muslim communities in non-member countries and includes around US$ 136.5 million towards project financing, and around US$ 1.3 million towards grant for educational institutions in non-member countries. The total approval is inclusive of US$ 223.2 million approved by the President between the two sessions of the Board towards trade operations and technical assistance under authority from the Board. The Board also approved one million US dollars as special assistance to join international efforts towards helping the IDB Member countries in the north-west and west African Countries which have been seriously affected by migratory locust attack on agriculture.

The details of the new approvals are given below:

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

- US$ 21.9 million as Istisna'a + Installment Sale for Development and Upgrading of The Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kasim (SUSKA) Project in Indonesia.

- US$ 15 million as Line of Financing to the National Bank of Uzbekistan (NBU)- Uzbekistan.

-US$ One million as grant for the Construction and Equipping of Rehabilitation Center Project under post-earthquake assistance Program for Bam in Iran.

- US$ 10 million as loan and LDMC financing for the Rural Infrastructure Development Project (RIDP) in Sierra Leone.

- US$ 18.9 million as loan and istisnaa financing for the Ouagadougou Access Roads Project in Burkina Faso.

-US$ 10.2 million as loan financing for Kayes Bafoulabe Road Project in Mali.

- US$ 10 million as loan financing for the Transmission Lines Project in Chad.

- US$ 6.2 million as loan and LDMC financing for Ali-Sabieh Regional Hospital Project in Djibouti.

-US$ 43.3 million as lease financing for the 220 KV Electrical Transmission Development Project (2005-2009 Phase-II ) in Bahrain

IDB WAKF FUND

-US$ 285,000 for the Expansion of London Islamic School, London, Ontario, Canada.

- US$ 365,000 for the Expansion of SSEKE Secondary School, Masaka District, Uganda.

- US$ 190,000 for the Expansion of Aligarh College of Engineering & Management, Aligarh City, Uttar Pradesh State, India.

- US$ 485,000 for the Urgent Relief Assistance for Water Projects in Somalia

APPROVALS BY THE PRESIDENT

The following are approvals of trade operations and technical assistance made by the President of the Bank between the previous and present sessions of the Board.

ITFO for Bangladesh totaling US$ 25 million

ITFO in favor of Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Government of Bangladesh for US$ 25 million to purchase Crude Oil & Petroleum Products.

ITFO for Egypt totaling US$ 25 million

ITFO in favor of the Ministry of Supply in the Arab Republic of Egypt for an amount of US$ 25 million to purchase wheat.

ITFO for Iran totaling US$ 48 million

ITFO for the Islamic Republic of Iran in favor of Alborz Tire Manfg. Company for US$ 12 million to purchase Raw Materials.

ITFO for the Islamic Republic of Iran in favor of Khouzestan Steel Company for US$ 24 million to purchase Steel Billets, Graphite Electrode & Iron Ore.

ITFO for the Islamic Republic of Iran in favor of Avangan Company for US$ 12 million to purchase Raw Materials for the production of Electrical Masts, Steel Profiles, Steel Billets & Zinc Billets.

ITFO for Kuwait totaling US$ 25 million.

ITFO for Kuwait in favor of Kuwait Cement Company (KCC) for an amount of US$ 25 million to purchase Raw Materials & Spare Parts.

ITFO for Pakistan totaling US$ 20 million

Line of Import Trade Financing Operation in favor of Habib Bank Ltd., Pakistan for US$ 20 million.

ITFO for Tunisia totaling US$ 25 million.

ITFO for the Republic of Tunisia in favor of the Societe Tunisienne De L'electricite Et Du Gaz – Steg (Ministry Of Industry & Energy) for US$ 25 million to purchase Natural Gas.

EFS for Kuwait totaling US$ 30 million

Export Financing Operation of Refined Petroleum Products from Kuwait to Pakistan for US$ 15 million.

Export Financing Operation of Refined Petroleum Products from Kuwait to Pakistan for US$ 15 million.

EFS for Malaysia totaling US$ 15 million

Export Financing Operation of Palm Oil from Malaysia to Algeria for US$ 15 million.

BADEA for Angola totaling US$ 5 million

BADEA Export Financing Operation for the export of Medicine & Medical Equipments from Kingdom of Jordan to the Republic of Angola for US$ 5 million.

TA Grant and Others

- T.A. Grant of US$ 266,000 for the High Commission for the Development of Hail Region - Saudi Arabia.

- T.A Grant of US$ 160,000 to carry out an Applied Research Study on "Ensilage of Greenery Residues as Animal Feed" – Kuwait

- US$ 4.6 million as installment sale for the TUNDE Printing press expansion project - in Benin

- US$ 119,500 as TA Grant to assist Chad to organize the International Conference on Bilingual Education, TA-grant - Chad

-US$ 117,600 as TA Grant to Niger for the Enhancement of Franco-Arab Education

The Board also discussed a number of other policy matters, financial and administrative issues of concern to the Bank including the utilization of the Debut Sukuk Issue of IDB International Sukuk Fund. It also considered several follow-up reports on the progress of work in development projects being financed by the Bank.