February 2009 Last year the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation signed US$100 million trade financing deal with Egyptian General Petroleum Company.

Cairo, Egypt -&During a consultative meeting held on 11-12 February 2009 in Casablanca, Morroco, Dr. Waleed Al Wohaib, CEO of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Islamic Center for Development of Trade (ICDT), represented by the Center's General Manager, Mr. Alal Rushdi, &to enhance future coordination between the Corporation and the Center. The memorandum includes areas of cooperation such as trade promotion activities by holding specialized exhibitions, organizing seminars and workshops for businessmen discussing supply and demand of potential trade commodities, and establishing a mechanism for exchanging business information by developing trade media networks.

Following the signing, Dr. Al Wohaib said: "This MoU is the first step in the process of building a strategic relationship between ITFC and the Islamic Center, for our common purpose of trade development and facilitation that will result in an increased volume of intra-trade to assist OIC member countries in achieving sustainable economic development."

In 2008 the ITFC approved trade financing amounting to US$100million for the import of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) from Algeria for refining, which will allow the Egyptian Government to provide subsidised fuel, thus protecting the country's lower income population from oil price volatility.

The memorandum includes training seminars and courses for trade specialists in member countries to enhance their skills in trade promotion and facilitate improved technical cooperation between the Corporation and the Center.

The meeting also examined ways to eliminate obstacles that deter intra-trade growth and recommended organizing regional meetings and forums to find solutions to issues and overcome challenges related to trade promotion between member countries.

The Casablanca consultative meeting included the participation of senior representatives of OIC's Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC),& the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the World Trade Center and the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development. &In addition, there were delegates from member countries representing economic and trade organizations, social institutions, and statistcal research and training centers.

The main objective of the consultative meeting was to identify specific actions to be undertaken and/or projects to be implemented by the member countries and OIC institutions in order to put into practice EGM Road Map recommendations to achieve the target of raising the level of intra-OIC trade by 20 percent by the year 2015 as stated in the Makkah Declaration.

- Ends - About the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation - ITFC: The ITFC is an autonomous entity within the Islamic Development Bank Group, formed to consolidate financing business that was formerly undertaken by various windows within the IDB Group. The consolidation of the bank's trade finance activities under a single umbrella increases the efficiency of service delivery by enabling rapid response to customer needs in a market-driven business environment.

A rich heritage of 30 years trade finance experience by the IDB Group puts the ITFC in a leadership position to foster socioeconomic development, set new benchmarks for trade financing and ethical based business standards, and develop innovative Shariah compliant trade financing instruments. Operating to world-class standards the ITFC promotes IDB developmental objectives through its two main pillars, Trade Finance and Trade Promotion, to fulfill its brand promise of 'Advancing Trade & Improving Lives'.

For further information, please contact TRACCS Ahmed Al Hassani Media Relations Director Tel:&& 00 966 2 663 2525 Fax:& 00 966 2 663 2323 International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) Majid Bin Ayed Al-Ayed Corporate Marketing Tel: +966 2 646 7002 Email: mal-ayed@isdb.org

© Press Release 2009 omar 1.1:zy