22.05.2012, Jeddah, KSA – The 283rd meeting of the Board of Executive Directors of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), concluded Tuesday, with an approval of US$ 260.6 million for financing development projects in member countries and Muslim communities in different parts of the world.
Chaired by IDB Group President, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, the meeting approved financing for development projects in Iran (US$ 118 million for support to the Development of the Dr. Shariati Hospital (DSH) Project), Nigeria (US$ 81.00 million for Zaria Water Supply Expansion Project), Niger (US$ 33.6 million for Gorou Banda Thermal Power Project), Lebanon (US$ 16 million for Hadath El-Jubba-Bqerqasha Road Project), and Burkina Faso (US$ 10 million for Strengthening the National Primary Health Care
Services Project).
The Board Members gave the go ahead for US$ 1.36 million of grants under IDB’s Waqf Fund for infrastructural educational projects in Muslim communities in Ethiopia (US$ 480,000), the Philippines (US$ 280,000), India (US$ 200,000), Malawi (US$ 200,000) and Tanzania (US$ 200,000). The session also took note of the approval of two technical assistance grants approved earlier by the IDB President for Egypt (US$ 306,000 for Development of The Country Action Plans of Education for Employment, E4E,
part of a joint initiative by IDB and the International Finance Corporation, IFC, to assist the Arab countries) and Mozambique (US$ 90,000 as Preparation Facility for a Sustainable Villages Project which is part of an Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development’s (ISFD) initiative to reduce extreme poverty in selected cluster of villages in the poorest countries of Sub-Saharan Africa).
The Board reviewed a progress report on establishment of a US$ 1 billion Mega Bank based on a tripartite agreement signed in Khartoum last April, (on the side lines of the 37th Annual Meeting of the IDB Board of Governors) by the Government of Qatar, the IDB Group and the Dallah Al Barakah Group. The Mega Bank aims to serve the Islamic banking institutions in the field of liquidity management by introducing numerous mechanisms and financial products.
The meeting further discussed a number of other reports, amongst them, a progress report on the implementation of “IDB Project for supporting Youth Employment in Arab Countries” for which IDB has already allocated US$ 250 million.