“The IDB Board of Governors, at the end of its annual meeting that took place in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 28 to 30 Jumada I (2 – 4 June 2008), resolved to allocate US$ 1.5 billion for an emergency assistance scheme for least developed IDB member countries so that they can cope with the global food crisis”, said the Chairman of the IDB Board of Governors, His Excellency Sheikh Ahmad Ibn Mohamed Al Khalifa. “The IDB will allocate a financial package of US$ 1.5 billion to help ensure medium and long term food security in member countries”, he added.

The five-year scheme has been tagged as the “Jeddah Declaration on Assistance for Least Developed Member Countries Affected by the Global Food Crisis”.

The scheme will be funded mainly from the IDB’s ordinary resources i.e. US$ 1 billion and 50 million. This amount will be disbursed as concessionary loans and grants. The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) will also contribute US$ 250 million and US$ 200 million respectively. The two corporations will contribute to the scheme through activities commensurate with theirs.

The scheme will be under the ambit of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), launched by the IDB last year. The scheme will urgently help to provide food by building a strategic reserve in most affected member countries and by providing agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. It will also provide animal fodder to preserve livestock and enhance animal husbandry. The scheme will in the medium and long term identify development and food security projects, encourage cooperation between the private and public sectors, build academic research capacity in agriculture, provide financing lines for agricultural projects, organize conferences designed to encourage investment in agriculture as part of efforts to promote partnership among member countries and make use of their natural and human resources and strengthen cooperation with regional and international organizations active in the sector.

The IDB Board of Governors meeting this year was marked by the presence and patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Ibn Aziz Al Saud as well as the presence of a good number of princes and ministers of the headquarter country and IDB governors for member countries.

The meeting issued a number of major resolutions such as the allocation of 5% of the Bank’s net projected income for the current 1429H (2008) financial year for technical assistance in 1430H (2009) and must not be not less than US$ 5 million.

The meeting also resolved to allocate 2% of the Bank’s projected net income for 1429H (2008) current financial year for the IDB Merit Scholarship Programme in the form of grants in 1430H and must not be less than US$ 2 million. This is in addition to the financial allocations made for the Programme from the Bank’s Waqf Fund.

The meeting also approved the Bank’s audited accounts, the accounts of both the Waqf Fund and Awqaf Properties Investment Fund, the World Waqf Foundation for the past financial year 1428H (2007), the audited accounts of the IDB Unit Investment Fund for the 2007 financial year and the transfer of the balance of the Bank’s Profit and Loss Account as it stands at the end of 1428H to the General Reserve.

The meeting also resolved to hold its 37th annual meeting of the IDB Board of Governors in the Republic of Sudan and to leave the competent authorities of Sudan to determine the date and venue of the meeting in consultation with the Bank.

The IDB Governor for Turkmenistan was elected chairman of the new session of the IDB Board of Governors at the closing session. The new session starts today and will end at the conclusion of the proceedings of the 34th annual meeting of the Board of Governors scheduled to take place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

On the sidelines of the annual meeting of the IDB Board of Governors was the maiden meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD). It is a Waqf fund and was established last year with a target capital of US$ 10 billion pursuant to a resolution issued in this regard by the 3rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Makkah Al Mukarramah in Dhul Qa’ada 1426H (December 2005) to help reduce poverty by reducing its causes, providing job opportunities, fighting disease and increasing learning opportunities in OIC member countries.

In the same vein was also held the 3rd meeting of the General Assembly of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC). The Republic of Iraq was admitted as a member of the ITFC after the shares it will subscribe to were determined, its ratification instruments submitted and the first installment of its subscribed share paid. As a result, the ITFC’s membership now stands at 38 countries and 18 financial institutions. Its paid-up capital stands at US$ 519 million by the end of last month.

Among the other events of the annual meeting was the 15th annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). The Board resolved to increase its capital by ID 50 million i.e. from ID 100 million to ID 150 million. The Islamic Dinar is equivalent to a unit of the Special Drawing Right of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) i.e. ICIEC’s authorized capital now stands at US$ 243 million.

The 8th General Assembly of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) also took place. The Republic of Albania and the Federal Republic of the Comoros were admitted as members.

Several other important meetings and seminars were held during the IDB annual meeting. The 19th annual IDB symposium “Strengthening Cooperation between Capital Markets in IDB Member Countries” was one of them. The symposium stressed the need to boost cooperation among capital markets of member countries by standardizing financial regulations and laws for capital markets in member countries and by enhancing the “OIC Member Countries’ Capital Market Forum” in order to exchange expertise and devise new financial instruments designed to bolster OIC intra-trade. The guest speaker was Dr. Mueen Kureishi, former prime minister of Pakistan and renowned international financier.

The Al Aqsa and Al Quds Funds also held their meetings under the chairmanship of Mr. Kerim Dioudi, Minister of Finance of the Popular Democratic Republic of Algeria. The Board called on member countries to increase contributions to the Funds. It also called on Arab and Muslim countries that have not contributed yet to do so.

The Funds were established by an extraordinary Arab summit held in Cairo in October 2000 in order to support the Palestinian people in their resistance and alleviate the effects of occupation such as the detention of defenceless persons and demolition of infrastructure.

The Chairman of the Funds indicated that an amount of US$ 750 million has been disbursed so far from the Funds. The money has been used to rebuild tens of thousands of houses, construct roads, build and refurbish schools, lay water pipes and power lines.

The sections of Palestinian society most affect by Israeli acts of aggression have also received health care and education benefits. The Funds have also repaired and rehabilitated hospitals, reclaimed agricultural lands, provide water for irrigation through wells, printed millions of books, provided scholarships and granted interest-free loans designed to establish small size projects and subsidize the budget of the Palestinian National Authority.

Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, IDB, described the resolutions issued by the Board as of utmost importance and that they would help to strengthen cooperation among member countries in the interest of the Ummah.

The Board of Governors expressed deep gratitude and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia for personally opening the proceedings of the meeting.

The Board also expressed deep gratitude to the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz and to the government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their warm welcome and generous hospitality as well as the excellent arrangements they made to ensure the success of the meeting and its side events.