Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, May 25, 2021 – The President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Dr Bandar Hajjar and the CEO of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), Dr Sidi Ould TAH , signed a historic agreement to stimulate co-financing of development projects in common member countries in Africa.
Over the past ten years, IDB and BADEA have co-financed more than a dozen projects in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Chad, Niger, Togo and Mozambique. These co-financing operations covered sectors such as education, water, sanitation, urban development, agriculture, transport, energy, health and trade.
The virtual signing ceremony took place on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. It is part of the IDB’s efforts to renew its partnership with development institutions at a time when the world faces unprecedented socio-economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. IDB President Dr Bandar Hajjar said, “The partnership we signed today will allow us to co-create financing and investment programs that will not only address key development challenges, but will help also our member countries to harness emerging opportunities in the global value chain to build resilience and create wealth in the post-COVID-19 world. ”
Data indicates that unemployment and poverty rates in developing countries are increasing, forcing the proposal of measures that would dramatically improve co-financing of development projects to help developing countries recover and rebuild their productive rural assets.
The agreement concerns co-financing over the period 2021-2024. It includes key areas of collaboration such as joint diagnostic work; procurement and capacity assessments; special initiatives that support inclusive social development; science, technology and innovation; global value chains (GVCs); private sector development; trade finance; trade policy, trade development, trade facilitation and promotion, including under the AATB (Arab Africa Trade Bridges) program and joint unionized trade transactions. Other areas covered by the agreement are issuance of sukuk; investments; investment promotion and policy formulation; insurance of investment and export credit operations; climate action, regional cooperation and integration.
