A roundtable meeting of Arab Coordination Group, including the Islamic Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development, and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, was held in Tashkent on 3 July.

The forum was attended by members of the Uzbek government, representatives of financial and business circles.

The representatives of the Arab Coordination Group appraised highly the course and results of socioeconomic reforms pursued in Uzbekistan and supported the reforms carried out under the direction of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov.

During the meeting the sides determined further directions of joint cooperation and priority projects implementation of which should assist and enhance the high rates of reforms in Uzbekistan.

The sides defined perspective directions of collaboration in social sphere, agriculture and industry and noted the importance of projects in the field of education, healthcare, municipal services and support of private farms, chemical and metallurgical industries, power engineering and building materials production.

Participants of the roundtable decided to form a joint work group to coordinate the processes of implementation of projects and, if necessary, members of the Arab Coordination Group expressed readiness to provide technical assistance for preparation of feasibility studies of the projects.

The members of the Arab Coordination Group showed belief that close cooperation with Uzbekistan in the coming years would promote not only the prosperity of Uzbekistan, but also would play vital role for stable and sustainable development of the Central Asian region as a whole.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) is an international financial institution established in pursuance of the Declaration of Intent issued by the Conference of Finance Ministers of Muslim Countries held in December 1973. The Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Governors took place in July 1975, and the Bank was formally opened on 20 October 1975. The purpose of the Bank is to foster the economic development and social progress of member countries and Muslim communities individually as well as jointly in accordance with the principles of Shari’ah i.e., Islamic Law. The functions of the Bank are to participate in equity capital and grant loans for productive projects and enterprises besides providing financial assistance to member countries in other forms for economic and social development. The present membership of the Bank consists of 56 countries.

The Bank’s principal office is in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Two regional offices were opened in 1994; one in Rabat, Morocco, and the other in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In July 1996, the board of Executive Directors also approved the establishment of an IDB Representative Office at Almaty, Kazakhstan, to serve as a link between IDB member countries and Central Asian republics. The Bank also has field representatives in eleven member countries. These are: Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Libya, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania and Algeria.

The Saudi Fund for Development was established by Royal Decree No.M/48 dated 1 September 1974. It commenced operations on 1 March 1975. As defined in its Charter, the basic objectives of the Fund are to participate in financing of development projects in developing countries through granting of loans to said countries, and to encourage national non-crude-oil exports by providing financing and insurance in support of such exports.

The Fund commenced its activities with capital of about US$3 billion provided by the Saudi government. The capital has been increased in three phases to its current level of nearly US$9 billion. The Fund’s contributions are provided through soft loans. It has no geographical exclusivity and it deals directly with governments of the developing countries in financing priority development projects. The Fund, however, assigns priorities to lesser developing, low-income countries.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) is a public corporation established by the State of Kuwait in order to provide assistance to Arab and other developing countries in developing their economies and to promote cooperation and friendship between the State of Kuwait and such countries. The Fund was established originally by Law No.35 of 1961, which empowered the Prime Minister to issue the Charter of the Fund. The operations of the Fund were confined until the year 1974 to the Arab countries, in accordance with the initial mandate of the Fund. In July 1974 the Fund was reorganized by Law No.25 of 1974 and its object was amended so as to include the provision of assistance to developing countries in general, in addition to Arab countries. Memorandum on cooperation between the government of Uzbekistan and KFAED, which includes a list of priority project for further development of cooperation, was signed in El-Kuwait in January 2004.

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) is an intergovernmental development finance institution established in 1976 by the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The Fund was conceived at the Conference of the Sovereigns and Heads of State of OPEC member countries, which was held in Algiers, Algeria, in March 1975. A Solemn Declaration of the Conference "reaffirmed the natural solidarity which unites OPEC countries with other developing countries in their struggle to overcome underdevelopment," and called for measures to strengthen cooperation between these countries. OFID aims to promote cooperation between OPEC member countries and other developing countries as an expression of South-South solidarity, as well as to help particularly the poorer, low-income countries in pursuit of their social and economic advancement.

The Fund’s resources consist of voluntary contributions made by OPEC member countries and the accumulated reserves derived from its various operations. At the close of the year 2006, contributions pledged by member countries totaled US$3.4 billion, out of which US$2.4 billion was direct contributions to OFID. The Reserve Account stood at US$2.4 billion. By the end of May 2007, the level of cumulative development assistance extended by the Fund stood at US$8.7 billion and disbursements reached US$5.6 billion.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) was established early in July 1971 as per an order by late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan to fund development projects in Arab, African and Asian countries. The aim of the fund is to assist the social and economic development of developing countries, particularly the lesser developed countries. The total volume of development aid given by ADFD since its inception stood at about US$5.5 billion contributing to the execution of over 243 projects. A recent report released by the ADFD showed that the assistance given by the Fund included project loans, grants, equity investment, guarantees and technical assistance. The sectors included infrastructure development, agriculture, power, transport, mining and manufacturing.