The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), on Tuesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, signed a U.S.$ 1 billion dollar partnership Memorandum of Understanding for joint project funding in their Common Member Countries.
The MOU was signed by the AfDB Sector Operations Vice-President, Kamal ElKheshen and the IsDB Vice-President, Birama Boubacar Sidibe.
Under the MOU, the AfDB and IsDB will each earmark U.S.$ 500 million over a three-year period starting in 2011, for co-financing sovereign projects in their Common Member Countries.
The sectors of intervention are drawn from the AfDB Medium-Term Strategy and the IsDB Special Program for the Development of Africa, focusing on priority areas such as infrastructure, water and sanitation, regional integration, education, social infrastructure as well as agriculture and food security, institutional capacity building, training and statistics.
"The objective of the co-financing MOU will be to foster economic development and social progress by coordinating co-financing projects and thus promoting economic development and technical cooperation in Common Member Countries, said AfDB Vice-President Kamal ElKheshen. He further stated that "This is aimed at reducing poverty levels in the African continent and uplifting the level of revenues."
The MOU between IsDB and the AfDB is expected to reinforce ongoing cooperation and create avenues for increasing the effectiveness of development policies through genuine partnership. The two will also share their respective strengths, knowledge and resources to promote economic development in Africa.
Established in 1963 and 1975 respectively, both the AfDB and the IsDB focus on tackling poverty, promoting economic development and spearheading human development and social progress within their member-countries. Additionally, the IsDB also reaches out to Muslim communities in non-member countries.
The AfDB and the IsDB have a long period of cooperation in diverse domains. From 1977 to 2009, they jointly financed 49 projects in various sectors with the AfDB's contribution amounting to UA 1.436 million (U.S.$ 2.2 billion as at December 2010), while the IsDB contributed UA 680 million (approximately U.S.$ 1 billion).
About the Islamic Development Bank Group
The Islamic Development Bank Group is an international financial institution established in July 1975 to foster the economic development and social progress of its (56) member-countries and so far, for (77) communities in non-member countries. The Group comprises five entities: the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).
About the African Development Bank Group
The AfDB Group has two major windows: the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Development Fund (ADF). The AfDB, established in 1963, promotes economic development and social progress in its regional member-countries - individually and collectively. Its main objective is to improve living conditions and skills development by providing loans and grants for financing projects and programs. The ADF promotes economic and social development in some 38 low-income African countries by providing concessional funding for projects and programs, as well as technical assistance for studies and capacity-building activities.
Common Member Countries: Comores, Somalia, Burkina Faso,Chad, Cameroon, Egypt, Togo, Uganda, Djibouti, Tunisia, Gabon, Gambie, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Bénin, Sudan et Senegal.
1 UA (Unit of Account) = U.S.$ 1.52578 on 21 December 2010.
Contacts
Moktar Gaouad
