Islamic bank signs deals to finance two regional environment projects

The Islamic Development Bank signed two agreements with the Center of Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE).

The IDB president, Ahmad Mohammed Ali, told Kuwaiti news agency KUNA the first agreement provides for extending a $240,000 grant to a strategic program to upgrade a water basin stretching under the lands of Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Chad.

The 2.45 million square km basin has an estimated 135 trillion cubic meters of water.

Under the second agreement, the IDB would contribute to financing a regional study on the effect of trade globalization and the establishment of the world trade organization (WTO) on environment in the Arab region, organized by the Cairo-based CEDARE and other institutions.

The bank will extend a $40,000 grant to the study.