The 46th meeting of the Board of Directors of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), an autonomous member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, has appointed Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol as the corporation's CEO. The ITFC BoD meeting took place during the 41st Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank last Sunday. Eng. Hani began his career in 1987 at IsDB Group, where he held several leading positions, including Deputy CEO of ITFC, Director of the IsDB Group Regional Office in Rabat, and Director of Trade Finance and Development Department at IsDB. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering and a Master's Degree in Engineering Management from George Washington University in the United States. He also attended the Rehabilitation of Leaders Program at Harvard University. Eng. Hani expressed his thanks and deep appreciations to Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President of IsDB's Board of Directors, and to all members of the Board for their trust in him. "It is a great honor to continue my career in this institution, which was founded as a result of the initiative launched by the (late) Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, may God have mercy on him, at the Tenth Islamic Summit held in Malaysia in October 2003, and endorsed by the Emergent Islamic Summit in Makkah in December 2005," he said. "This institution aims primarily to promote intra-regional trade development in member countries of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation by providing funding and conducting all necessary activities helping to achieve this goal, in addition to enhancing technical capacities in member countries in accordance with Islamic Shariah." IsDB is a multilateral development bank with headquarters in Jeddah. It consists of 57 member countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The purpose of the bank is to foster the economic development and social progress in its member countries, and Muslim communities in non-member countries. The Bank has regional offices in Kuala Lampur (Malaysia), Rabat (Morocco), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dakar (Senegal), and several gateway offices and field representatives in different parts of the world. — SG
