IDB President: IDB Now Safe from Financial Crisis 2 Washington

On the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank annual meetings, Dr. Ali outlined the three new initiatives for
the IDB this year.

The IDB launched the Jeddah Declaration where it allocated $1.5
billion to help poor countries with the food crisis; they have
developed a special program allocating $4 billion over five years
towards the 27 IDB member countries in Africa. Lastly, the IDB has
also launched a program that aims to train the member countries in
micro finance and vocational training.

“We [the IDB] are confident the crisis will not” affect the
implementation of these three goals, Dr. Ali said.

The IDB, which was created in 1973, has 56 member countries spread
all over the world in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin
America.

--SPA