Rabat – The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) will come to Marrakech for its annual meeting, April 3-6, where it plans to disclose a new vision for development.
The event convenes the bank’s Board of Governors each year to discuss institutional and development issues, pulling in experts and development specialists from around the globe. 2018’s event took place in Tunis.
This year, the meeting’s slogan is “Transformation in a changing world,” a reference to the new development strategy the bank’s president Bandar Hajjar will unveil. The new strategy dovetails with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to IsDB.
“We need to be constantly finding new, innovative ways to approach development in our fast-evolving world,” Hajjar said in a press release. The world, he explained, needs a development model that “focus[es] on root causes of development challenges rather than symptoms.”
IsDB, which is headquartered in Saudi Arabia, has considerable global outreach. The bank operates in 57 countries and works with Muslim communities globally.
But global development, Hajjar said, has moved beyond the scope of any single institution. The SDGs have set standards for social and economic progress that will require trillions of dollars and international collaboration.
“Never has the need for cooperation and partnership been of such paramount importance as it is today,” he said.
Morocco is one of IsDB’s most important partners. The institution has worked extensively with the kingdom, most recently launching a multimillion dollar fund for science and technology in Morocco.
In February, lauding Morocco’s use of private-public partnerships, one of the new “core pillars” of the IsDB, Hajjar called the North African country a “model and a reference” for its other member countries. Other pillars include science and technology and Islamic finance.
April’s meeting will explore these ideas through a series of panels and events, with a projected attendance of thousands to Marrakech.
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