The pledge was made by IDB President Ahmed Muhammad Ali here on Sunday night, a week before an IDB governors meeting that is to be held in the Azeri capital of Baku.

Ali said preparations are underway to hold the 35th IDB annual gathering in Baku, which will be attended by the ministers of finance, economy and planning of the bank’s 56 member countries. Omar Diawara, ambassador of Burkina Faso and dean of the African Diplomatic Corps in Riyadh, welcomed Ali and commended the IDB in a meeting attended by a large number of African ambassadors and diplomats at Sheraton Hotel.

He described IDB support of the African continent as “credible and massive.” The IDB chief, who gave an overview of IDB's relations with African countries in his speech, said that the African continent has great potential and many areas of possible investments, namely energy, transportation, telecommunications, agriculture and mining etc. The IDB, he said, had planned to offer Africa new financial support worth $1 billion in a staggered schedule in the near future.

Ali pointed out that the bank had allocated a whopping sum of $9.9 billion to African countries for 1,371 projects since its inception. Besides this, the IDB has pledged "a capital of $4 billion under its Special Program for the Development of Africa (2008 to 2012)." The bank had made significant progress in the implementation of this program as about half of the amount has already been made available for projects in sub-Saharan African countries, he added.

Asked about the IDB's new commitments, a move that has been supported by member states including Saudi Arabia, the IDB chief said that the bank has mobilized sufficient funds to finance various projects in Africa. He said that the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) was another instrument being used by the IDB to generate massive support for African countries. The ISFD, which aims to raise a capital of $10 billion in a staggered schedule, will help to promote functional literacy and eradicate diseases.

He said that these programs, which are being implemented by the IDB, are significant keeping in view the fact that the number of poor people in Africa exceeds 360 million. "IDB and African states have been working together for the last 35 years in different fields and on different social and economic initiatives," said Ali.

He added that the IDB had "come forward to forge closer ties with African nations in different domains," not only on the commercial and infrastructure front.