ISLAMABAD: President of Islamic Development Bank Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al-Jasser said on Friday his institution was willing to help Afghan people while holding a meeting with Pakistan’s planning minister Asad Umar ahead of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s extraordinary session focusing on humanitarian assistance to the war-battered country.
A multilateral development finance institution based in Jeddah, the bank has 57 shareholding member states with the single largest contribution coming from Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan has been striving to convince the world to provide necessary humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan since the departure of international forces in August that also led to a financial meltdown in the aid-dependent economy.
“Dr. Muhammad Al-Jasser highlighted that the Bank Group has had the experience of delivering humanitarian assistance in conflict-afflicted countries such as Palestine, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq,” said an official statement released by the planning ministry. “The Bank would garner all its institutional capacities to meet the expectations of alleviating the sufferings of the people of Afghanistan as well as meet the expectations of its member countries and the international community.”
Islamic Development Bank President & Chairman Muhammad Al Jasser, second left, is seen along with Pakistani officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, on December 17, 2021. (Photo courtesy: IDB)
The bank’s president said his institution’s executive board was likely to approve $180 million for the Mohmand Dam project in Pakistan on Saturday, adding it had already endorsed $72.5 billion under the COVID-19 vaccine support program for the country in April 2021.
The Pakistani minister congratulated Al-Jasser on assuming the top office of the bank for five-year term in July.
Umar also requested him to support his institution’s long-term finance operations in the country through a guarantee structure to strengthen the bankability of the projects.
He informed the visiting dignity of the planning commission’s three-year rolling growth strategy while requesting the bank support and alignments of its medium-term operations through the instruments of member countries partnership strategy.
Al-Jasser welcomed the initiative and assured of his institution’s full cooperation, said the official statement.
Discussing the government’s COVID-19 containment strategy, the Pakistani minister highlighted the internationally acclaimed role of the National Command and Operation Center, his country’s central pandemic response body, and expressed the readiness to share the experience with other member countries of the bank.
The president of the Islamic Development Bank is also scheduled to address the inaugural OIC session in Islamabad on Saturday.
