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Bangladesh has been elected as one of the executive directors in the Board of Executive Directors (BED) of Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for a three-year term from 2024.
The decision came at an Islamic Development Bank’s annual meeting for 2023 held in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from May 10-13, said a press release issued by the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the finance ministry on Saturday.
The other members elected for the post include Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Maldives.
Pakistan which had been serving since 2020 proposed to continue for another term. But a Bangladesh delegation, headed by ERD Secretary Sharifa Khan, argued against this proposal, citing Article 31(3) which clearly states that the elected member country will serve for three years and then rotate in an alphabetical order.
After intense negotiations, eventually Bangladesh was elected as the executive director of IsDB Board.
The other members of the Bangladesh delegation include five high officials of ERD and Bangladesh mission in Riyadh.
The theme of this year’s meeting was “Partnerships to Fend off Crises”, and the Bangladesh delegation emphasised the importance of IsDB supporting its member countries with concessional financing, technical support, and building partnerships through south-south cooperation to tackle the current geo-political crisis.
The delegation attended various meetings and sessions and met with dignitaries such as Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, President of IsDB, and Dr. Ghassan Al-Baba, General Secretary of IsDB Group, CEO, ITFC & Acting CEO, ICD, Mariyam Manarath Muneer, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Maldives.
In addition, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a sister concern of IsDB, celebrated 15 years of partnership and awarded Bangladesh with the “Largest Financing Partner” Award in recognition of its regular borrowing from ITFC to purchase fuel from the global market and repay debts on time without any failure.
