The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), an autonomous entity within the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group and as part of its trade financing program to provide Egypt with its strategic energy requirements has organized a series of trade finance operations valued at $358 million with an increase of more than 138 percent over 2009 which saw a total of $150 million trade finance operations for Egypt. Moreover, the series of operations included a jointly syndicated $100 million trade finance operation between the ITFC and the Saudi Export Program (SEP). This trade finance operation is intended for the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), providing it with strategic financing in order to import petroleum products from Saudi Arabia. The latest trade finance operation fulfills one of the main elements of the strategic alliance between the ITFC and the SEP which is part of an MoU signed in 2009. The MoU, in addition to the launch of trade finance operations includes the initiation of joint trade promotion, trade facilitation and capacity building programs, which include three out of ITFC's four “trade development” business lines that include the development of strategic commodities and are an integral component of the ITFC's “Trade Solutions” business. Commenting on this strategic link up with SEP, Dr. Waleed Al Wohaib, ITFC CEO, said: “The relationship between the SEP and the Islamic Development Bank Group is decades old and since the establishment of the ITFC, we have embarked on an ambitious goal to make these long-standing relationships a cornerstone of our Trade Solutions activities.” He added that “in 2009 we signed an MoU with SEP in order to pursue one of our strategic goals of becoming a catalyst for intra-trade among OIC member countries, to expand our trade finance and development operations in addition to helping to promote Saudi exports to OIC member countries and this trade finance operation is a concrete translation of that MoU.” Ahmed Al Ghanam, general manager, SEP, said: “This trade finance operation represents yet an important milestone in our strategic alliance with the ITFC, as it not only translated our MoU into a concrete $100 million trade finance operation, it also signals a key landmark operation that aims to contribute to the growth of Saudi exports to Egypt on the one hand and also to help further develop intra-trade complementarities between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.” On the overall volume of the ITFC's trade finance operations for Egypt, Al Wohaib said “since the start of 2010 the ITFC has approved $368 million in trade finance operations which has not only provided for Egypt's strategic energy requirements, it has also facilitated the development of trade by strengthening existing trade links between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.” He pointed out that “the ITFC intra-trade finance operations creates an environment that is conducive to on-going and direct relationships among member countries, hence the increased value of more than 120 percent from 2009 for our Egyptian trade finance operations, even though we are still in the second quarter of 2010.”
