KUWAIT CITY, 31 May 2006 — Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday opened a two-day meeting of the board of governors of the Islamic Development Bank with a call for unity among Muslims and more assistance to poor Muslim nations. “Many Muslim countries have suffered from unrest and turmoil which had its impact on the people. Our economic institutions should double their efforts to put in place development plans to improve their living standards,” he said.
Sabah opened the 31st annual meeting of the IDB Board of Governors of the Islamic at the Al-Bayan Palace in the presence of OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and IDB President Ahmad Mohammed Ali and dignitaries from the bank’s 56 member countries. A special guest of honor was Iran’s former President Mohammed Khatami. Sabah said the meeting embodies the Islamic nation’s overall unity and cooperation to boost development.
The IDB was established for the purpose of enhancing cooperation among the Islamic countries especially in economic and trade matters. The Muslim nations, he lamented, have witnessed much turbulence in recent years, which negatively affected their populations. As such Islamic economic and development organizations shouldered a greater responsibility to contribute toward stability and alleviating poverty.
Kuwait strongly believes in Arab and Islamic solidarity. This view has been expressed in substance over the years through the establishment of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) in 1962 and through its contribution to the founding of many regional and international organizations that aim to alleviate suffering and poverty, and to provide primary healthcare and education in developing countries.
“We are looking forward to more achievements from the IDB and other Islamic developmental organizations,” he stressed. He urged a greater role for the private sector of the IDB member countries in development projects through strategic partnerships; capital investment or through full ownership of projects.
IDB President Ahmad Mohammed Ali said that rapid changes in the international system especially those brought about by globalization, and their impact on development, have forced the IDB member countries to close ranks and forming a single bloc. This in turn led to the IDB to adopt a strategic plan to meet the challenges faced by its member countries.
This plan is based on the Ten-Year Program of Action embodied in the Declaration issued by the OIC Extraordinary Summit held in Makkah Al-Mukarramah in December 2005. Earlier, Ali had presided over the ratification by the board of governors of the agreement by the articles of association of the newly-incorporated Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), which has a paid-up capital of $500m and an authorized capital of $3bn.
“The promotion of economic and commercial cooperation among member countries has been a distinctive characteristic of development financing activity in the bank since its inception. The bank is particularly keen to strengthen cooperation through the financing of intra-trade operations, building the capacity of economic institutions as well as developing and exchanging knowledge-based human capital,” he added.
