The Islamic Development Bank launched a $10 billion fund today to combat poverty in developing Muslim nations in Africa and other parts of the world.
The fund, which has an initial endowment of $1.4 billion, will be dedicated to alleviating poverty, promoting health and universal education, and empowering women in the bank's 56 member countries.
"This launching ceremony of the IDB's Poverty Alleviation Fund symbolises a revitalisation of the Islamic community in a world where unmatched wealth is next to absolute poverty," the host of the bank's annual meeting, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, told delegates.
Saudi Arabia has already pledged to contribute $1 billion, Kuwait $300 million, Iran $100 million and Senegal $10 million, bank officials said.
The aim of the fund is to help meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), proposed by then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan and approved by world leaders in 2000.
They include cutting extreme poverty by half, ensuring universal primary education, and stemming the AIDS pandemic, all by 2015, among others.
