Jeddah – 11 November 2025
The Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Dr. Asad M. Khan, held meetings with Dr. Rami M. S. Ahmad, Vice President (Operations), and Dr. Zamir Iqbal, Vice President (Finance & CFO), of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) at the Bank’s headquarters in Jeddah.
The discussions focused on strengthening cooperation between ECO and IsDB in promoting sustainable development, trade, and regional connectivity among their common Member States. Dr. Khan emphasized that all ECO Member States are members of the IsDB, making the Bank a natural partner for advancing mutually beneficial regional projects aligned with the ECO goals and objectives.
He briefed the Vice Presidents on the ECO-Gate Project (Phase II) and the forthcoming ECO-UNIDO-IsDB Joint Trade Capacity Building Project (Phase IV), inviting the Bank’s partnership in their implementation. Dr. Khan also proposed launching an ECO–IsDB Joint Scholarship Programme and an ECO Youth Start-Up and Entrepreneurship Fund to promote education, innovation, and youth empowerment across the region.
It was agreed to establish a Joint Task Force Group to work out the details of these proposed initiatives and to develop an implementation roadmap for future ECO–IsDB cooperation.
Both sides also agreed to renew the long-standing ECO–IsDB Memorandum of Understanding, first signed in 1993, with a view to signing the updated version at the 2026 IsDB Annual Meetings in Baku, Azerbaijan.
