(Jeddah, 1 May 2008) Dr Ahmed Mohamed Ali, President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, received today at the IDB headquarters in Jeddah a high level delegation from the World Bank led by its President, Mr Robert Zoellick. Mr Zoellick was accompanied by Dr Abdulrahman M. Almofadhi, World Bank Executive Director for Saudi Arabia, Mr Marwan Muasher, Senior Vice President for External Affairs and Ms Daniela Gressani, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, along with a number of senior officials.

This meeting provided the opportunity to review bilateral cooperation between the two institutions and discuss recent developments, including the food security crises, aid to Africa, water and climate change. The two development finance chiefs also discussed the Arab World Initiative, a new strategy for World Bank engagement in the Arab region. Dr Ali commended this new initiative and said it "will provide further partnership opportunities and create greater synergies between our two institutions". He also thanked Mr Zoellick for the World Bank's support towards the establishment of the Arab Water Academy, which will be hosted by IDB's Dubai-based International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency, under the umbrella of the Arab Water Council. Mr Zoellick, for his part, saluted IDB for its growing importance and contribution to the development process of its 56 member countries. He praised IDB's leadership role in Islamic finance and its various programmes and initiatives, particularly its Africa programme which aims to provide $12 billion of aid over 5 years. The two chiefs agreed to further enhance their cooperation in agricultural development, water, Islamic finance, microfinance, education and knowledge-sharing.

Mr Zoellick's visit aims to give a new impetus to the on-going bilateral cooperation and forge a new strategic partnership between the two institutions. Together, IDB and the World Bank have already cofinanced over 60 projects in 26 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East for a total value of $3.2 billion. Recent joint activities included a power project in Yemen, an education project in Iraq and, more recently, Jordan's Queen Alia airport expansion project.