In her comments, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat highlighted the pivotal timing of the IsDB's new ten-year strategy (2026-2035), arriving amidst successive regional and international changes. She explained that multilateral development banks, both regional and international, are crucial given current global development and climate challenges, rising poverty rates, and shrinking global fiscal space.
She expressed her aspiration for more comprehensive
cooperation between Egypt and the IsDB, building on their historical and
pivotal relationship. This collaboration aims to advance economic development,
bolster food security, and increase investment in human capital. She also noted
that Egypt is leveraging international partnerships to provide innovative
financing tools for both local and foreign private sectors.
She added that the new strategic framework features an
integrated vision based on six main pillars: empowering member countries to
lead their national development agendas, achieving inclusive productivity
growth that considers less fortunate groups, activating Islamic financing tools
to ensure fair and ethical financing, enhancing South-South cooperation through
cross-border regional projects, strengthening the Bank's global standing as a
leading think tank in Islamic finance, and internal reform to ensure efficiency
and financial sustainability.
She affirmed that Egypt is working to leverage this strategic shift in the Bank to expand areas of cooperation, particularly in supporting the private sector, financing infrastructure projects, education, digital transformation, renewable energy, and climate change adaptation.