06.02.2014, Jeddah, KSA - Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on post-2015 Development Planning, Ms. Amina Muhammad has stated that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has a critical role to play in shaping the post-2015 development agenda, as the UN works towards proposing new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ms. Amina Muhammad was speaking in Jeddah at the headquarters of the Islamic Development Bank where she delivered a town-hall lecture on “Post-2015 Global Development Agenda”.
“The UN appreciates the effort of IDB in integrating the millennium development goals in its Vision 1440H, and then tailoring it towards its specific needs”, Ms. Amina said, “IDB can encourage its member countries to engage with the post-2015 development agenda. It can also help in the areas of education, poverty alleviation, governance and human rights”, she added.

According to the UN adviser, IDB has been playing an important role in working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), citing as an example the support provided by IDB in the millennium village project (which is an integrated approach to community development) in Kaduna State of Nigeria.

She mentioned some of the key areas the post-2015 development agenda will focus on such as economic transformation, addressing inequalities, human rights, governance issues and infrastructure development. Ms. Amina Muhammad further stated that the MDGs will not be abandoned, rather, she told the audience from various departments and complexes of the IDB Group that “SDGs will be a transition that integrates the Millennium Development Goals with more sustainable global development agenda”. She
noted that although the UN has an ambitious plan, there will be challenges in mobilizing resources as well as coming up with an agreeable implementation plan, and according to her the expertise of IDB will be relevant here.

In his welcome address, the Director of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development Department, which is the poverty alleviation arm of IDB, Dr. Bashir Fadlallah thanked Ms. Amina Muhammad for creating time to address IDB staff, stating that the MDGs are in line with the work of ISFD, whose mandate requires deep understanding of poverty issues and other global initiatives.

Equally important, the Chief Economist of IDB, Dr. Jamal Zarrouk expressed his appreciation to the UN adviser suggesting that there are a lot of areas of potential collaboration between IDB and the Post-2015 development plan of the UN.