As part of its continued efforts to provide strategic support for the growth of intra-OIC trade, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group hosted the 4th Coordination Meeting for local, Arab and Islamic trade finance and trade guarantee institutions. The meeting was organized by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and The Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Investments and Export Credits (ICIEC) - both autonomous entities within the IDB Group. The participants in the Beirut meeting included the Saudi Export Program (SEP), which is part of the Saudi Development Fund, the Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development, whose members are all members countries of the League of Arab States, the Arab Bank for Development in Africa (BADEA), the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (DHAMAN) and the OPEC Fund for International Development. Highlighting the importance of the coordination talks, Dr. Abdul Rahman El-Tayeb Taha, CEO, ICIEC, said “this meeting is part of our efforts to strengthen our endeavors in order to identify areas of synergy between the trade finance and trade guarantee entities, which in turn can help the private sector in our member countries to have better access to our products and services, in addition to raising the level of intra-trade and foreign direct investment (FDI).” “One of our foremost objectives at the IDB Group is to strengthen and develop intra-trade for OIC member countries, and he further underlined the need to have concerted efforts between the members of the Coordination Group in order to achieve its desired objectives,” he noted. The participants discussed and agreed on a number of initiatives that will support the members of the group in order to confront the challenges associated with global financial crisis in addition to supporting several programs that will help in strengthening intra-trade and Aid4Trade Initiatives. In 2009, the members of the Coordinating Group provided over $3.4 billion and $4.5 billion in trade finance and trade operations insurance, respectively, to their various member countries. The ITFC mission is to be a catalyst for the development of trade among OIC member countries and with the rest of the world, which in turn will help advance trade in order to improve the economic situation and livelihoods of people across the Islamic world.
