Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Agence Française de Développement have signed an agreement to co-finance projects worth more than $4 billion in developing countries and support these countries in achieving their UN Self-development Goals (SDGs).
The MoU was signed by the president of the Islamic Development Bank, Dr. Mohammed Al-Jasser, and CEO AFD Remy Rioux, in Vienna.
The bank last year affirmed that it would work together with all Multilateral Development Banks, International Finance Institutes, and other development partners towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for its member countries.
This came during IsDB President Muhammad Al Jasser’s participation in a panel discussion on “A Shared Sustainable Recovery Based on SDGs,” held on Tuesday, as a part of the “International Forum on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
The panel discussion was held at the Italian Pavilion in Dubai Expo 2020 during the “Global Goals Week”.
In February last year, the bank approved the establishment of the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF), which will channel humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan.
The AHTF will be administered by the IsDB, which welcomed the OIC invitation to its member states, Islamic financial institutions, donors, and other international partners to announce pledges and contributions to the Fund and to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
For project financing, it approved $337.63 million for transport, agriculture, and human capital development projects in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal.
Rampant poverty
Al-Jasser said last year that one out of every three member states of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is living in poverty.
Al-Jasser was speaking at the 16th World Bank Forum on Islamic Finance themed “Poverty Reduction Through Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship” on the sidelines of the IDB group’s annual meetings in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in June 2022.
Al-Jasser said the economic crisis that resulted from the Corona virus pandemic has increased poverty rates and inequality of opportunities worldwide, adding that there are more than half a billion people around the world who have fallen under the poverty line during the pandemic.
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