Excellencies, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for IFAD and for me personally to be with you here today, and for that I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude to the Chairman of the Board of Governors, and the President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, for availing me the opportunity to address Your Excellencies.

Your member countries, particularly the Arab OPEC states, played a decisive role in the establishment of IFAD over 30 years ago.

Indeed, IFAD is amanifestation of the will of OPEC and OECDcountries to work together to eradicate povertyand boost agricultural productivity indeveloping countries.

Your Excellencies, three-quarters of the world’s poor people live in rural areas. But if we take into account the fact that the vast majority of these rural poor people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, there are solutions at hand.

Agriculture plays a dual role as we look for solutions in the areas of food security and economic growth. Increasing food production in a growing planet is one issue.  But in addition, GDP growth generated by agriculture has been shown to be at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors.  An investment in agriculture is therefore an investment in people, in food security and in economic growth.

IFAD replenishment

Member states of IFAD have agreed to a record replenishment of US$1.2 billion for the period 2010-2012. We are extremely gratified by the generous support from traditional donors. It is, however, my duty to encourage equal expressions of support from other member states represented here in this august plenary.

IFAD’s recent replenishment allowed us to expand our activities and work across the globe. For example, we were able to devote more than 40 per cent of the 2010-2012 programmes and projects for the benefit of OIC member countries.

Partnership with IsDB

However, there is much work to be done and no international financial institution can go it alone, neither IFAD nor IsDB. Today and more than ever, we need to join hands together as equal partners in the fight against poverty and hunger.

I am delighted to see that IsDB, as a result of its ambitious and on-going reform, has established an agriculture and rural development department – which is a clear indication of its Executive Board and senior management’s long-term support for this crucial sector. IFAD stands ready to lend its technical know-how and project pipeline to support IsDB’s new and challenging venture.

I am also glad to report to Your Excellencies, that IsDB and IFAD have joined hands to work together as strategic partners to ensure food security in our member countries.

We have a framework co-financing agreement with IsDB. This historic and landmark agreement, which amounted to 1.5 billion US dollars, was co-signed by my friend, Dr. Ahmed Ali and me in Jeddah last February.

And the first signs of our growing cooperation will manifest themselves through initial agreements for projects here in Azerbaijan and in Yemen – and with more to come.

IFAD is also reaching out to the OPEC Fund, to the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, to BADEA, to the Saudi Fund, to the Kuwaiti Fund and to Abu Dhabi Fund. We are reaching out to all of them to re-energize our strategic cooperation and emulate our recent partnership experience with IsDB.

The need for enhanced engagement

Your Excellencies, in recent years, however, we have felt that not all countries from this group have been fully engaging with us. This is a great loss to your institution, IFAD, and more importantly to poor rural people around the world. It is my greatest wish to see IFAD gaining the outstanding and wholehearted support from the countries present here today so that we can fully realise our mission.

Since my election as President of IFAD, I have made it a priority to fully re-engage your group, and I know that I can count on your continued and staunch support. It is true that the global financial situation is making further support more difficult. But I firmly believe, as I will elaborate in my intervention this afternoon, that if we are to make a real contribution to improving the lives of poor and hungry women and men, the time to act is now.

I have come here today to make a strong plea for you to fully re-engage with IFAD. With its recognized credibility and success in the field, IFAD is as relevant to you and your people today as it was 30 years ago.  In fact, perhaps even more so.

As IsDB’s motto says, “Together we build a better future”.  Only when we join hands, can we build a better future for poor rural women and men and end poverty and hunger.

Thank you.

23 June 2010, Baku, Azerbaijan