Jeddah, KSA, 22.02.2015 – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Republic of Turkey and IDB Governor for the country, HE Dr. Ali Babacan and his accompanying delegation paid a visit to the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group headquarters on Sunday and were received by IDB Group Chairman, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali.

At a meeting attended by all IDB Group entities, the two sides discussed ways to support and elevate the ongoing partnership between the IDB Group and the Republic of Turkey.

Expressing satisfaction over the strong relations between his country and the IDB Group, HE Dr. Babacan lauded the existing cooperation as very important, effective and active in terms of development of the member countries.

The Deputy Prime Minister then referred to the rise in Turkey’s exports from US $26 billion in 2002 to US $160 billion last year as an instance of the country’s successful economic and development experience. He then touched upon the tangible improvements in income distribution as well as the remarkable developments in health, education and social sectors as other indicators showing that the Turkish Economy has grown much stronger than it was prior to the global economic crisis.

The IDB Governor for Turkey, furthermore, spoke of his country’s chairmanship of the G20 in 2015, the first time ever a Muslim country chairs the group, and enumerated a number of key topics that are to be addressed during this period.

Referring to Turkey’s cooperation with the IDB Group as the gateway to Ankara’s cooperation with member countries of the IDB, HE Dr. Babacan touched upon the Bank’s significant experience in supporting the economies of the least developed nations and voiced his country’s readiness to provide further cooperation to the IDB Group.

The IDB Group Chairman, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, for his part, expressed appreciation on behalf of the Group and the member countries for the continuous support provided by the Republic of Turkey.

Furthermore, Dr. Ali stressed the major role Turkey has played in furthering cooperation amongst member countries through the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) in Istanbul. “The fact that HE President of the Republic of Turkey has been personally chairing COMCEC since its establishment, clearly displays the great significance that the country attaches to cooperation amongst member countries in addition to the great
support Turkey has been providing to the IDB Group member countries in all development fields”, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali stated. “Turkey’s tangible support to the economies of the Central Asian Republics immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as its extensive technical, financial and economic support to IDB’s African member countries are clear instances of the country’s enthusiasm in promoting cooperation amongst IDB member countries”, he added.

Turning to Turkey’s chairmanship of the G20 in 2015, the IDB Group Chairman mentioned the various important regional and international aspects associated with this issue in integrating the developing countries into international cooperation and trade programs.

Also during the meeting, the heads of the IDB Group entities spoke of the important focal role Turkey plays in supporting development activities through different projects implemented in Turkey or in partnership with the local private sectors of other member countries.

The Republic of Turkey is a founding member of the IDB. The Group’s approved financings for Turkey have surpassed US $2.2 billion, of which US $1.3 billion have gone to 92 projects covering financing, industry, transport, power generation, health, water supply as well as the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). To date, 80 of the said projects worth US $870 million have been successfully completed. The majority of the IDB Group financings with Turkey come in the framework of the Member Country
Partnership Strategy (MCPS) with the country covering the period 2010-2013 and have exceeded the target of US $2 billion set in the strategy.