“There is still much work we have done and can continue to do. All of this serves greater integration, greater development and prosperity. Because, ultimately, people need hope,” President of the Islamic Development Bank Group Mohammed Al-Jasser said while speaking at a session titled “An Open Conversation with the President of the Islamic Development Bank Group” held as part of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Annual Meetings in Baku, APA-Economics reports.
According to him, restoring hope is critically important for economic development:
“If it is not possible to create hope among people, nothing else will help.”
He spoke about the bank’s activities:
“We financed the construction of a road between two cities in Gambia. Previously, it took 12 hours to travel by car from one city to the other, but now it takes only four hours. Imagine how this affects the movement of goods, services and people between those two cities. This is integration. We are not only talking about integration between different countries, but also integration within the same society.”
The president also emphasized the importance of integration:
“There are cases where large amounts of food are produced in one region but spoil because they cannot reach the market, while people in other regions face hunger. That is why integration is one of the main pillars of our work, and you will find this theme in much of what we do. For example, people in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, faced serious mobility challenges within the city. We financed the metro project. In its first year, the metro served more than 100 million passengers and operated at full capacity. As a result, we immediately began working on financing its expansion. Imagine how much expanding people’s mobility contributes to economic development. It is one of the key enablers of growth.”
He added that in some countries, life expectancy has increased significantly thanks to a single hospital built in densely populated areas:
“We have implemented many projects of this kind. There is also the issue of preventable blindness, which is a very serious problem in some parts of Africa. We have also worked in this area on a charitable basis. Ophthalmologists from member countries voluntarily dedicate their time, travel to these regions, perform surgeries and remove cataracts so that people can return to productive lives.”
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