Islamic Development Bank president Ahmad Mohamed Ali on Monday said that there was no scope of providing terrorist financing through the Islamic banks.
It is a wrong conception that more scopes are available to finance terrorism through the Islamic banks, he said. The IDB president made the comments at a news conference at the IDB Bhaban in the capital.
The IDB organised the news conference on inauguration of 24 completed and equipped school-cum-cyclone shelters under its Fael Khair Programme for relief of cyclone victims of Bangladesh.
Ali said the economic recession had proved that the Islamic banking system protected the financial sector when the traditional system failed.
When asked whether the IDB would provide financial support for Padma Bridge construction, Ali said there was no agenda about the bridge in his running Bangladesh mission.
The IDB president said the 24 completed buildings constituted the first package out of 15 construction packages with a total of 180 school-cum-cyclone shelters that were currently being built under the programme in the coastal belt of Bangladesh.
He said, ‘I am very happy by inaugurating the school-cum-cyclone shelters as it would rehabilitate the marginal people during poor situation. We have used the charity fund to build the school-cum-cyclone shelters’.
Around 2,000 farmers will be able to take shelter and 500 cattle could be kept during the disaster period and 250 students could get opportunities of education at every school-cum-cyclone shelter, Ali said.
It is to be recalled that an anonymous philanthropist (Fael Khair in Arabic) entrusted to the IDB $130 million for providing assistance for the victims of cyclone Sidr, he said.
Under the project, $110 million will be spent for the construction of the school-cum-cyclone shelters in the country’s coastal belt.
Some $20 million will be provided as urgent relief and rehabilitation in the form of agriculture and other inputs to the affected farmers, fishermen and small business holders.
The Bangladesh government and IDB had signed a memorandum of understanding on May 12, 2008 with the IDB implementing programme.
When asked whether the IDB would provide any financial support to tackle the salinity crisis in the coastal belt in the coming days, the IDB president said his organisation would think about the matter.
-with New Age input
