A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed last Feb. 11 between the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, and the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), IsDB Group's primary organizational unit for the delivery of Islamic finance research, training, information, advisory, technical assistance and Islamic financial products development services within the Group and to its Member Countries. The MoU envisages cooperation to explore all technical aspects related to Islamic finance that might help the industry, from high level training sessions, advising Islamic banks and windows, to drafting Shariah-compliant contracts and much more. Ayman Sejiny, the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of ICD, and Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem, Acting Director General of IRTI, signed the MoU. Ayman Sejiny said: "We are pleased to find common ground to work with IRTI. The cooperation between ICD and IRTI will rend our respective activities more effective and beneficial to the private sector in the member countries in which we undertake our operations,". Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem said "we realize the many benefits of our close and continuing collaboration with ICD in enhancing the realization of our objectives. We believe that our cooperation will foster our joint operations but will also promote Islamic finance and expand the knowledge of islamic financial products and services offered to private sector in our member countries." — SG
