related projects worth in excess of $10 billion. Around $1.5 billion of this assistance targeted the Arab region, including $1.1 billion for water supply and sanitation projects. IDB is equally active on the institutional capacity building front, for example, in its capacity as a founding member of the Cairo-based Arab Water Council, a regional water policy think-tank, and the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Water Academy, a regional capacity building programme hosted by IDB's Dubai-based International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency. Meanwhile, Dr Ali and Prince Willem-Alexander, the Prince of Orange and Crown Prince of the Netherlands, in his capacity as chairperson of UNSGAB signed recently a cooperation agreement between IDB and UNSGAB, which will focus primarily on financing, sanitation services, water operators partnerships and integrated water resources management.
