UAE concludes its participation in IDB meet

Jakarta / WAM

The UAE concluded its participation in the 41st Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Board of Governors, and the General Assemblies of IDB Group member institutions of the IDB Group in Jakarta Indonesia on Thursday.
The Ministry of Finance’s (MoF) delegation participated in the second day which included the Supreme Council for the Funds of Al Aqsa and Al Quds, third sessions of IDB Board of Governors, 23rd meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the ninth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), the sixteenth meeting of the Assembly of Islamic Cooperation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the eleventh meeting of the General Assembly of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the closing session of the IDB Group annual meetings.
Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, reviewed the institutions under IDB’s umbrella efforts and their contribution in the success of the ten year strategy. He highlighted the efforts by the Bank’s Group, particularly ICIEC in raising export rates and facilitating foreign investment flow through creating new insurance tools to reduce credit and sovereign risk, enhance trade operations competitiveness and develop operations and solutions to achieve the institutions’ ambitions.
Al Tayer added the importance of IDB providing innovative programmes to overcome challenges faced by Muslim countries and benefit from member states’ expertise in this respective field.
Commenting on ICD, Al Tayer said: “ICD has achieved many successes which is reflected with its net profit and making distribution to its shareholders for the second year. The next stage requires the institution to concentrate on the quality of funded projects, and strengthen partnership between the private and public sector as key drivers for growth, providing job opportunities, and cooperating with international funding institutions particularly those targeting the private sector. ICD should focus on controlling costs and rationalising its spending, to reduce operational costs and enhance the institution’s ability to overcome market fluctuations.”
Al Tayer discussed ITFC’s growth and efforts in increasing revenue, where the financial allocation for this year amounted to $US 6.4 million, representing 52.9% of the total IDB financial allocations. HE added that ITFC should continue to focus on productive projects and activities with direct revenue to expanding financing trade between member countries.
The third session of the 41st Annual Meeting of IDB Board of Governors witnessed the approval of a number of decisions, appointing Dr. Bandar bin Mohammed bin Hamza Al Hajjar, as the new President of IDB Group, replacing Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Ali who has held the post for the past 20 years; the membership of the cooperative republic of Guyana to IDB Group and its subscription to the bank’s capital.
The session also reviewed IDB Group report on the implementation of the ten year strategic framework.
Obaid Humaid Al Tayer extended his thanks to Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali for his sincere efforts and hard work to aid the Islamic nation, and great services with profound impact on the bank’s performance. Al Tayer also congratulated Dr. Bandar bin Mohammed bin Hamza Al Hajjar for his new post as President of the IDB Group and wished him great success.
MoF delegation attended the Governors’ Forum titled ‘Strengthening Innovation for sustainable development in IDB member countries’; which addressed the global innovation outlook, while highlighting the success in the productivity of countries who have adopted innovation and the need to implement it in poor and developing countries. This could be achieved through partnerships with experienced countries in that respective field, and investing in research to achieve sustainable development and support the quality of life.
MoF delegation also visited innovation exhibition on the sidelines of the 41st Annual Meeting of IDB Board of Governors, whereby the delegation was briefed on various participating entities’ most prominent experience and innovative practices.
The 42nd Board of Governors meeting will be held in Saudi Arabia on 17-18 May 2017 and UAE will be hosting the 46th meeting in 2021.