April 5, 2019: The 44th annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) kicked off on Friday in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.
Organized under the theme “Transformation in A Changing World: The Road to Sustainable Development Goals,” the two-day annual meeting will discuss four key pillars of the bank's five-year plan, namely public-private partnerships, science, technology and innovation, the global value chain and Islamic finance.
In a message to the participants, the Moroccan King Mohammed VI commended “the pioneering role” played by the bank to promote economic and social development in Islamic countries.
He said that despite the achievements made by Islamic countries in terms of structural reforms in the financial and economic sectors, there is still a great deal to do in order to modernize their economies and achieve sustainable development goals as well as social justice and territorial cohesion.
In this respect, he called on the IDB Group to expand and strengthen its role, enhance its performance and develop programs to meet the growing demands of member countries as well as their peoples' aspirations.
The aim is to help member countries to adapt to global economic changes by relying more strongly on their own capacities, by harnessing their assets and by making the most of their geo-political location, be it in Asia, Africa or the Euro-Mediterranean region, said the king.
