JEDDAH, 4 June 2008 — Twenty-six least developed Muslim countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Palestinian Authority, Senegal, Sudan and Yemen would benefit from the landmark $1.5 billion food initiative of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, it was announced yesterday.
IDB President Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali made the announcement while addressing a press conference at the conclusion of the three-day annual conference of IDB’s board of governors at Jeddah Hilton. Finance, economy, planning and agriculture ministers of 56 countries attended the conference, which was opened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
The IDB initiative is significant as many Muslim countries, especially those in Africa, have been hit by an unprecedented food crisis as a result of growing commodity prices including rice and other foodstuff. Under the five-year initiative IDB would give soft loans to member countries to increase their agricultural production and make adequate stock of food grains.
Other beneficiaries of the initiative are: Uganda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Togo, Gambia, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Comoros Islands, Kyrgyzstan, Cameroon, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique and Niger. “This food initiative will be implemented immediately,” the president said.
Ali commended the recent initiative taken by Saudi Arabia to boost agricultural production and said IDB would extend all support to the Kingdom’s projects. Last month, Saudi Arabia announced plans to invest in agricultural and livestock projects in foreign countries and establish a holding company to manage such projects as part of its efforts to curb rising commodity prices and ensure food security.
The board of governors also decided to muster more money for IDB’s $10 billion Solidarity Fund to eradicate poverty in the member countries, the president said. The fund was officially launched at IDB governors’ last conference in Dakar, Senegal. Saudi Arabia and IDB have contributed $1 billion each to the fund, which became operational in the beginning of this year.
Dr. Ali, the longest-serving president of the group, said the governors had also approved plans for the reform of IDB, the largest development bank in the Muslim world that has provided more than $53 billion in loans to carry out health, agricultural, industrial and educational and infrastructure projects in the member countries during the last three decades.
The IDB chief hoped that the bank could attract more funds from the market to meet the growing development requirements in the Muslim world. The bank has already increased its capital from 15 billion to 30 billion Islamic dinar (one dinar is equal to 1.5 US dollar). Qatar, which has been named a permanent member of IDB’s board of executive directors, will increase its contribution to the bank’s capital from ID97.2 million to ID1.25 billion.
Finance Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, who represents the Kingdom at the board of governors, said the bank’s total allocations for development projects in 2007 rose by 16 percent. He expressed his satisfaction over the triple A rating received by the bank from international agencies. He commended the efforts of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) to promote its activities in member countries. However, he noticed an increase in ICD’s losses last year “as a result of stumbled operations.” The Saudi minister emphasized the need to improve methods of risk management in order to ensure quality and safety of financing operations. He also urged ICD’s board to look into $30 million in delayed payments and take necessary measures to ensure repayment of loans by its clients.
Delegates were unanimous that the IDB governors’ conference was a big success in terms of participation and adoption of important resolutions. “The conference was instrumental in bringing together decision-makers, business leaders and executives, bankers and economists from across the globe to conduct brainstorming sessions and exchange ideas for the development of the Ummah,” Hanan Al-Attas, president of Financial Training Center in Jeddah, told Arab News.
Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Tuwaijeri, governor of the Capital Market Authority, commended IDB’s leading role in the development of Muslim countries. “IDB has been making tremendous contributions for the progress of the Ummah,” he said. Al-Tuwaijeri presided over a seminar on capital markets in Muslim countries. He said the seminar would help IDB member countries exchange expertise in capital markets and make use of each other’s successful experiments.
The Supreme Council for Al-Aqsa Fund, which met on the sidelines of the conference, took a number of decisions for the welfare of Palestinians, especially those besieged in Gaza. Tenders will be called soon to establish an electricity power network between Egypt and Gaza, a senior IDB official said. The fund has already financed several health, educational and infrastructure projects in Palestine with the support of other organizations.
Asked whether the unit for women at IDB would be expanded into a department, the president said the bank would continue its efforts for the empowerment of women by supporting their activities. Four of the IDB prizewinners this year were women. They are: Professor Asma Ismail of Universiti Sains Malaysia, Runa Khan of Friendship Charitable Society in Bangladesh, Saideh Ghods of Iran and Ghaliya Al-Haj Abdu of Sudan. Asma Ismail is the director of the Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine at the university. The IDB awards were aimed at promoting research in Islamic banking and innovations in science and technology as well as encouraging charitable activities and projects.