13 December 1977 - A concrete case of North-South cooperation

The first Governing Council of IFAD is convened with the participation of 120 countries which become the Members of the Fund. The initial resources of the Fund are agreed at US 1 billion, to be replenished in three years. These resources are provided jointly by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and OPEC countries, giving birth to one of the most concrete examples of north-south cooperation. The Governing Council also adopts the Lending Policies and Criteria of IFAD and other rules and regulations for its operations.

1978 - First year of operations

Thanks to intensive preparatory work and strong enthusiasm on the part of its Member States, IFAD becomes operational immediately after its establishment. During the first year of operations, the Fund’s Executive Board approves three loans for the Republic of Guyana, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the United Republic of Tanzania. These projects are selected from the pipelines of the Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank and World Bank, respectively. Soon after, IFAD initiates its own pipeline and, later, mobilizes cofinancing resources through the projects it initiates.