New co-funding opportunities on the agenda as Islamic Development Bank President visits the EIB

An Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) delegation, led by the Bank’s President, H.E. Dr. Bandar Hajjar, is visiting the European Investment Bank’s headquarters in Luxembourg to explore opportunities for co-financing new projects in Africa and Southern Mediterranean Countries.

“IsDB and EIB, together with other Multilateral Development Banks, are key players in catalysing private investment in support of public policy goals. We need to strengthen our common efforts to support economic resilience and deliver on our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals,” commented EIB President Werner Hoyer after the meeting. He added: “There is an acute need to support sustainable investment in many regions where we are both active. We can deliver more impact by bundling our respective strengths and working closely together. Today President Hajjar and I had very fruitful discussions on how to scale-up our partnership and increase co-financing in a number of areas, starting with improving the lives of the most vulnerable, in sectors like infrastructure, innovation, support for small enterprises, and support to refugees.”

During the two-day visit, EIB and IsDB teams discussed ongoing projects and potential windows of cooperation to boost the impact of both institutions finance and technical assistance programs.

H.E. Dr. Bandar Hajjar, President of the Islamic Development Bank, addressed EIB delegates at a town hall meeting saying: “The close relationship between the IsDB and EIB will bring significant contributions to the development of the Islamic finance industry as well as the private sector in communities we have committed to serve.” He continued, “to achieve the SDGs, new sources of finance need to be tapped, such as the global capital markets. This requires new types of development projects that operate at the nexus of financial viability and development impact. It also requires new and innovative Islamic finance products that mitigates the perceived risks around investment. Solving this challenge is central to my vision for a new development model.”

EIB and IsDB have been working together to provide needed finance and advisory services for sustainable development. Since 2005, the EIB and the IsDB have co-financed 9 projects with a total investment of EUR 1 billion in Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Sub-Sahara Africa.