JEDDAH — The Board of Executive Directors (BED) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), which concluded its 242nd session at the bank's headquarters here recently, has approved $446.3 million towards project financing and trade operations.
Financing approvals included participation in financing new development projects in Azerbaijan, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and Sudan, in addition to line of finance for three banks in Uzbekistan, and technical assistance for development projects in Indonesia, Lebanon, Niger and Morocco.
The Board also approved grants from Waqf Fund in favour of Islamic communities in the Central African Republic and India, in addition to a grant for establishing a boarding school in Mogadishu, Somalia.
"The Board considered many issues including prospects of establishing regional infrastructure funds, for supporting infrastructure projects in member countries, with a catalytic role for IDB in rallying financiers for those funds," Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, IDB, who chaired the session, said in a statement, which was made available to Khaleej Times here.
The also approved a co-operation programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for promoting the Islamic banking and finance industry, and allocation of $600,000 for the programme. It approved the establishment of a representative office for ICIEC (Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit) in the United Arab Emirates.
Moreover, the Board reviewed the documents of the 32nd annual Meeting of the Board of Governors that is scheduled to be held in Senegal on 12-May 29-30.
Details of the various project financing and trade operations approved by the Board are as follows:
Under development projects, $15m goes to three banks in Uzbekistan, $80m for phase 2 of a  hydropower project in Azerbaijan, $9.7m additional finance to Nigeria for the National Programme for Food Security, $27.1m for financing of a 60 MW power plant in Dakar, Senegal, $38.8m to Cote d'Ivoire for phase 2 of a highway project, and $3m to Sudan for a water treatment plant in Khartoum.
Under technical assistance, $418,000 goes to the Sierra Leone Rural Transport Corporation (SLRTC), for capacity building, $3.7m to Gabon for preliminary engineering design and feasibility study of the Mayumba deep water sea port project, $434,000 to Senegal for additional studies of phosphate mining project in Matama, and $4.5m to Lebanon for Greater Beirut water supply study/design.
Grants from the Waqf Fund include $379,000 for construction of secondary school in Mbaiki Town, Central African Republic, $320,000 for construction of a boarding school in Mogadishu, Somalia, $120,000 for extension of Madani High School and construction of science laboratory, Modasa town, Sabarkantha district of Gujarat State, in India, and $600,000 for financing co-operation programme between IDB and IMF so as to for promote the Islamic banking and finance industry.
Approvals of trade operations and technical assistance made by the Bank President between the previous and present sessions of the Board are as follows:
Under Import Trade Financing Operations (ITFO), Gambia gets $5m
to purchase refined petroleum products and gas, Iran gets $14m to purchase natural rubber, $27m to purchase crude sun flower oil and raw sugar, and $8.4m to purchase raw material for the production of tyres,
Nigeria gets $14m to purchase flour mill machinery, and $25m to purchase raw materials, refined petroleum products and CKD motor bicycle parts, and Turkey receives $3.9m to purchase raw materials for Gurle Suni Deri Tekstil SAN. VE TIC. A.S.
Under the same heading Jordan gets $25m to purchase spare parts for the
Jordanian Electric Power Co. Ltd. (JEPCO), and $12m to purchase raw materials, intermediate and capital goods, $50m for Kuwait to purchase petroleum products, and $10m for Tunisia to purchase raw materials and spare parts for  Societe Nationale De Cellulose Et De Papier Alfa (SNCPA).
Under trade financing operations (using EFS resources), Bangladesh gets a total of $50m Under trade financing operations (using BADEA-- Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa — resources), Seychelles gets $10 million.
Technical assistance operations and other projects include $95,000 for a regional study on French/Arabic education in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Senegal, $287,000 for capacity building of bio-pesticide production, Bioteck Centre (BPPT), Indonesia, $295,000 to conduct a feasibility study for construction of Bhola 150 MW combined cycle power plant and Barisal-Bhola-Borhanuddin 132 KV transmission line, Bangladesh, $285,000 for capacity building of the National Oilseeds Production Research Institute (NOPRI), Sudan, and $7m for the ongoing leasing operation of Al-Zawia combined cycle power plant project, Libya.