DUSHANBE, March 3, 2016, Asia-Plus – The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) press center reported yesterday that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) mission, led by Mr. Mohammad Jamal Al-Saati, Director of the Country Programs Department at IDB, has arrived in Dushanbe on a week-long working visit.

The purpose of the visit is for the mission to study the priority investment projects.

On March 2, Mr. Mohammad Jamal Al-Saati met with Mr. Jamoliddin Nouraliyev, First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan.

In the course of the talks, Nouraliyev reportedly noted that Tajikistan was interested in closer cooperation with IDB.

According to him, Tajikistan needs IDB’s support for working out laws for Islamic banking and retraining personnel for Tajikistan’s banking sector.

The two sides discussed issues related to providing technical assistance to Tajikistan as well as developing and implementing new investment projects in the banking sector of Tajikistan.

Mr. Mohammad Jamal Al-Saati noted that a group of the IDB specialists will arrive in Dushanbe next month to define priorities of cooperation with Tajikistan’s banking sector, the NBT press center said.

In the course of the talks, the two also discussed prospects of cooperation between Tajikistan and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), which are members of the Islamic Development Bank Group.

Tajikistan and IDB plan to expand cooperation in trade and infrastructure.

We will recall that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met with IDB President, Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, in Jeddah on January 7, 2016.   

During the meeting, Dr. Ali presented a brief of IDB’s work in Tajikistan.  He underscored the government’s high level of cooperation with IDB for implementing development programs and projects.  Dr. Ali discussed IDB’s commitment to the economic priorities of Tajikistan aimed at elevating the living standards of its citizens.  He also explained IDB’s role in the Coordination Group to support full socio-economic development in Tajikistan.

The Coordination Group comprises Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development, Arab Monetary Fund, IDB, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, OPEC Fund for International Development, and Saudi Fund for Development.

Since 1996, when Tajikistan joined IDB, to date, the Bank has reportedly approved US $337.2 million for projects in Tajikistan focusing on power generation, roads and transport, agriculture, education and health.

Founded in 1973 by the Finance Ministers at the first Organization of the Islamic Conference (now called the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is a multilateral development financing institution located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It began its activities on October 20, 1975.  The present membership of the Bank consists of 56 countries. The basic condition for membership is that the prospective member country should be a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), pay its contribution to the capital of the Bank and be willing to accept such terms and conditions as may be decided upon by the IDB Board of Governors.