JEDDAH: The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has approved new grants totaling $552 million for a number of new development projects, some of which are in Albania, Jordan, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Burkina Faso and Benin.
Of the total sum, seven are grants from the Waqf Fund and were approved by IDB President Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali for projects in Uganda and six other Muslim communities of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Netherlands, Tanzania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the UK and Ethiopia.
In addition, Indonesia was given $30.5 million for use in rehabilitation of areas affected by the recent earthquake.
From the total, one million was given as a grant in order to provide emergency relief to those still suffering from the earthquake.
An emergency grant of $2.3 million was approved for victims of the floods that swept through West Africa affecting more than 600,000, particularly in Burkina Faso. A fixed annual grant was approved for allocations to distinguished scientists and researchers in member countries.
In accordance with IDB's keenness in promoting Islamic finance, it approved some $3.9 million as a contribution to the paid-up capital of Sri Lanka's first Islamic commercial bank.
Other approvals made by Ali for new development projects included development projects allocating $30 million to Albania for Istisna's financing of the country's reconstruction of road projects; $140 million was given to Pakistan for financing the railway development project currently in its third phase; and $200 million to Azerbaijan for financing the Janub Power Plant.
Other technical assistance projects were also approved by IDB president. These include a $310,000 grant for research given to Indonesia as well as a grant of the same amount to Kazakhstan for the rehabilitation and modernization of Bartogay Water Reservoir and the Greater Almaty Canal.
Scholarship program
In a related development, IDB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Nottingham, UK, for a joint scholarship program. The program," Islamic Development Bank-University of Nottingham International Scholarship Program," will come within the scope of the IDB Merit Scholarship Program and the University of Nottingham Developing Solutions.
Signing the MoU at the IDB premises was Birama Boubacar, IDB vice president (operations), and Professor Nidal Hilal, director of the Center of Clean Water Technologies at the University of Nottingham. The joint program was agreed upon with the aim of placing talented and meritorious students from IDB member countries for study and research at the post-graduate level, mainly for 3-year Ph.D. programs.
On the occasion of the signing ceremony, Boubacar praised the university and said, "I hope that this program will produce a relationship between the institutions not only in promoting education but also in other fields of development."
A source at the IDB said, "The MoU brings an opportunity for IDB selected candidates from member countries to study at this university through a cost-sharing, common objective basis. This will enable IDB to place a greater number of students in the institution. Also the association with the university will enable the IDB Scholarship Programme to attract the best candidates."
The source also explained that an annual allocation of five places has already been filled for 2009-2010 by qualifying Ph.D. students who were selected by IDB the previous year. IDB has been conducting the program for the past 16 years with the objective of developing the human resources of its member countries in science and high-technology sectors
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