The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) approved $616.2 million for new projects and technical assistance in member countries as well as Muslim communities in non-member states, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) Saturday. Board of executive directors meeting under the chairmanship of IDB President Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali also approved $3 million for IDB group reform, delegating the management to undertake necessary measures for the implementation of the projects. The projects approved by the board involved financing development in Tunisia, Uzbekistan and Malaysia as well as two projects from the Islamic Solidarity Fund in favor of Bangladesh and Yemen. It also approved grants from the Waqf Fund in favor of six Muslim communities in Mauritius, BosniaHerzegovina, India, USA, Congo and Sweden. The board was informed of technical assistance projects approved by IDB president in favor of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Azerbaijan. Last month the IDB Board of Governors resolved to allocate $1.5 billion for an emergency assistance scheme for least developed IDB member countries so that they can cope with the global food crisis. The five-year scheme has been tagged as the “Jeddah Declaration on Assistance for Least Developed Member Countries Affected by the Global Food Crisis”. The scheme will be funded mainly from the IDB's ordinary resources. This amount will be disbursed as concessionary loans and grants. The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) will also contribute $250 million and $200 million respectively. The two corporations will contribute to the scheme through activities commensurate with theirs. The scheme will be under the ambit of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), launched by the IDB last year. __
