Bank Al-Jazira (BAJ) recently signed an agreement with Zamil Industrial Investment Company (ZIIC) to purchase steel pre-constructed buildings and air conditioners produced by ZIIC in favor of Darfur Fund for Reconstruction and Development in Sudan (DFFCAD), valued at SR75 million. The agreement signed in Dammam was part of over SR112 million financing contract, in which BAJ would sell such commodities to DFFCAD via Murabaha. The agreement was signed by Abdulrahman Hourani, manager of Export Finance, on behalf of BAJ and Nawaf Al-Zamil, vice president of ZIIC, in the presence of Saeed Al-Muhanna, BAJ corporate regional manager of Eastern Region, and Mohammad Nabaq, chief financial officer of Zamil Group. DFFCAD should repay the funding over two-and-half years as of the date of shipment. The deal has been guaranteed by Kuwait-based Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (AIECG). Ziad Tariq Aba Al-Khail, BAJ acting chief executive officer, said the signing of such agreement is one of the bank's objectives to support the Saudi exports through using several export financing products, compliant with the Shariah rules, offered by BAJ. Such offerings include selling commodities via Murabaha to an external importer product which is used for the first time in the Kingdom. The process entailed participation of several parties, domestic and abroad, to execute. The parties were ZIIC, the commodity producer; DFFCAD, the commodity purchaser; AIECG, the guarantor; and BAJ, the financier. Aba Al-Khail emphasized that the deal is consistent with the bank's integrated strategy towards adopting Islamic financing products that cope with the development in the international trade processes. He also invited all the exporters of Saudi products to take advantage of this product to expand their marketability and exportability of their products abroad. He assured that BAJ is more than ready to provide all required support, along with all other BAJ Islamic banking services offered to its clients in line with the bank's internal policies. He expects that the product would receive Saudi exporters' acceptance to finance their exports. The bank would be dependent on the Export Credit Insurance Agencies to guarantee its rights in collecting the funding value upon maturity.
