IslamicFinance.de

Mozambique will next month host the annual meeting of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB), an event which is expected to be attended by 700 delegates. It will take place on 8 and 11 next June. Eduardo Macuà¡cua, Deputy Executive Director of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) said that the private sector in coordination with the Government, through the Investment Promotion Centre, is already preparing to not only participate in meeting but also, and above all, present projects and business opportunities that the country offers, and perhaps form partnerships. To this end, the CTA is organizing the Private Sector Forum on 8 June, which discusses the role of the private sector in the development of the IDB member countries, particularly those in Africa.

Arab Women's Enterprise Fund (AWEF) aims to empower poor women, increasing their income and well-being and ultimately improving their livelihoods and growth opportunities. The programme will do this by increasing their participation in markets through working with market actors to encourage the adoption of new practices and also by addressing constraints in the enabling environment. AWEF is an 10 million pouns market development programme that will work in Egypt, Jordan and the Overseas Palestinian Territories (OPTs). DFID will work in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) who will contribute an additional 10 million pounds in sharia-compliant concessionary finance through financial intermediaries.

As the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEFA) ended on Friday, Mrs. Elzie Kanza, the Director and Head of Africa WEF, said about 50,000 social media items mentioned the Forum. The coverage had a total reach of over 2.1 billion - about 30 per cent of the world's population. Kanza said that the Chinese government had planned to invest US$42 billion in Africa, US$10 billion in investment financing, US$30 billion in extending credit lines and US$2 billion into a China-Africa investment fund. In the business sector, she said that the Dangote group is investing US$16 billion in Nigeria over the next four years and it is expected to create 180,000 jobs. Kanza added that another company will be investing US$1 billion across Africa in the next 10 years while 20,00 jobs will be created through the Digital Africa initiative.