Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — Islamic Development Bank (IDB) President Ahmed Muhammad Ali said that the Arab and Islamic world has lost a matchless leader and sagacious statesman with the death of King Abdullah. He offered condolences to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muqrin, and Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif on the death of the King Abdullah.



Ali said King Abdullah exerted great efforts to uphold the joint Islamic work and foster the unity and fraternity of the Arab and Islamic world. The King was instrumental in catapulting IDB into one of the leading financing groups in the world.



“It was the keenness and unwavering support of King Abdullah that helped IDB to launch several bold initiatives aimed at improving the financial condition of the Islamic countries as well as boosting their developments in all walks of life. This was evident in the creation and management of the Islamic Solidarity Fund for combating poverty and unemployment in the Islamic countries,” he said.



King Abdullah played a great role in the creation of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), which is an autonomous entity within IDB created with the purpose of advancing trade to improve the economic condition and livelihood of people across the Islamic world.



Ali said that it was King Abdullah who proposed that IDB had to take over management of Al-Aqsa and Al-Quds Funds during the emergency Islamic Summit held in Cairo in 2000. “At the third extraordinary summit held in Makkah in December 2005, King Abdullah launched the 10-year Action Plan of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) aimed at confronting challenges facing the Islamic Ummah in the 21st century. The King proposed then that IDB would take over implementation of the economic aspect of the plan.”



The IDB chief commended King Abdullah for his pioneering role in making the bank the most powerful financial organization in the Islamic world through a steady increase in its capital, which was raised up to 100 billion Islamic Dinars ($150 billion). The meeting of IDB Board of Governors held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in May 2013 decided to triple the Bank’s authorized capital from 30 billion Islamic dinars ($45 billion) to 100 billion Islamic dinars. The Bank’s subscribed capital has been increased from $27 billion to $75 billion. This was aimed at enabling the bank to enter a new phase of activities and active participation in realizing the growing developmental needs of the 56 member countries.



The board’s decision to increase the capital was in accordance with the resolutions adopted by the 3rd and 4th Extraordinary Islamic Summits held in Makkah in December 2005 and August 2012 that called for a significant increase in the Bank’s capital to meet the growing developmental requirements of the member states. The bank increased its capital from $22.5 billion to $45 billion after the Makkah Summit in 2005.



Ali said the IDB shouldered the responsibility of implementing several humanitarian initiatives, launched by King Abdullah. This included the massive project to help the tsunami victims that struck devastatingly six countries in 2004. As per the late King’s directive, OIC and IDB took charge of sponsoring more than 5,000 Indonesian tsunami orphans. “King Abdullah met personally the expense of sponsoring 2,000 orphans by making them available of housing, accommodation, education and healthcare until the age of 15. The King hosted 105 of these orphans as his guests for the last Haj.”



The IDB president said that King Abdullah donated SR1 billion to establish mobile clinics, and IDB was authorized to set up the clinics in the rural regions where there were not adequate healthcare centers. The poor people in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Yemen, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have benefited from this program. Ali noted that one month ago the King donated SR131 million to help West African countries to combat Ebola. He entrusted IDB to establish special medical care centers in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Mali to provide treatment for the people affected by the deadly virus. — SG