The Arab Fund Joins the Deauville Initiative for Supporting the Arab World

In response to the sweeping changes taking place in several Arab countries, the Arab Fund joined the International Monetary Fund, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Bank, the African Bank, the Arab Monetary Fund, and the OPEC Fund (OFID) to form the Deauville Initiative, aimed at supporting the economic development efforts in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan, and their efforts to transition to more democratic and transparent societies.

The Arab Fund participated in a kick-off meeting for the group that was held in Paris during July 2011, and in top-level meetings in Marseille, France in September 2011. These meeting were attended by the Ministers of Finance of the G8 countries, along with the heads of all nine participating organizations, where they pledged a total amount of $38 billion for the four countries to finance their development efforts during the period 2011- 2013.

The heads of the nine financial institutions also agreed to establish a coordination platform to help disseminate information among their organizations regarding the Arab countries. The chairmanship of the forum will be on a one-year rotating basis.