1.
Jeddah
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Jeddah is a city in the Hijaz Tihamah region on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, with a population currently at 4.2 million people, Jeddah is an important commercial hub in Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is the gateway to Mecca, Islams holiest city. It is also a gateway to Medina, the second holiest place in Islam, economically, Jeddah is focusing on further developing capital investment in scientific and engineering leadership within Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East. Jeddah was independently ranked fourth in the Africa – Mid-East region in terms of innovation in 2009 in the Innovation Cities Index, Jeddah is one of Saudi Arabias primary resort cities and was named a Gamma world city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network. Given the citys proximity to the Red Sea, fishing. The city has been labeled as different by the majority of Saudis in an effort to promote tourism in the city, historically, Jeddah has been well known for its legendary money changers. The largest of said money changers at the time eventually founded Saudi Arabias first bank, there are at least two explanations for the etymology of the name Jeddah, according to Jeddah Ibn Al-Qudaaiy, the chief of the Qudaa clan. The more common account has it that the name is derived from جدة Jaddah, according to eastern folk belief, the tomb of Eve, considered the grandmother of humanity, is located in Jeddah. The tomb was sealed with concrete by religious authorities in 1975 due to some Muslims praying at the site, Ibn Battuta, the Berber traveler, visited Jeddah during his world trip. He wrote the name of the city into his diary as Jiddah, the British Foreign Office and other branches of the British government used the older spelling of Jedda, contrary to other English-speaking usage, but in 2007, it changed to the spelling Jeddah. T. E. Lawrence felt that any transcription of Arabic names into English was arbitrary, in his book, Revolt in the Desert, Jeddah is spelled three different ways on the first page alone. On official Saudi maps and documents, the city name is transcribed Jeddah, some historians trace its founding to the tribe of Bani Qudaah, who inhabited it after the collapse of Sad Marib in 115 BC. According to some accounts, the history of Jeddah dates back to times before Alexander the Great. The city of Jeddah was an important port during Nabataeans frankincense trade. The oldest Mashrabiya was found in dates back to pre Islamic era. Jeddah first achieved prominence around AD647, when the third Muslim Caliph, Uthman Ibn Affan, in AD703 Jeddah was briefly occupied by pirates from the Kingdom of Axum. Jeddah has been established as the city of the historic Hijaz province. In the 969 AD, the Fatimids from Algeria took control in Egypt from the Ikhshidid dynasty and expanded their empire to the regions, including The Hijaz
2.
Saudi Arabia
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Saudi Arabia is bordered by Jordan and Iraq to the north, Kuwait to the northeast, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to the east, Oman to the southeast and Yemen to the south. It is separated from Israel and Egypt by the Gulf of Aqaba and it is the only nation with both a Red Sea coast and a Persian Gulf coast and most of its terrain consists of arid desert and mountains. The area of modern-day Saudi Arabia formerly consisted of four regions, Hejaz, Najd and parts of Eastern Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud and he united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud. Saudi Arabia has since been a monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. The ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement within Sunni Islam has been called the predominant feature of Saudi culture, with its global spread largely financed by the oil and gas trade. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called the Land of the Two Holy Mosques in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, the state has a total population of 28.7 million, of which 20 million are Saudi nationals and 8 million are foreigners. The states official language is Arabic, petroleum was discovered on 3 March 1938 and followed up by several other finds in the Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia has since become the worlds largest oil producer and exporter, controlling the second largest oil reserves. The kingdom is categorized as a World Bank high-income economy with a high Human Development Index and is the only Arab country to be part of the G-20 major economies. However, the economy of Saudi Arabia is the least diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the state has attracted criticism for its treatment of women and use of capital punishment. Saudi Arabia is an autocracy, has the fourth highest military expenditure in the world. Saudi Arabia is considered a regional and middle power, in addition to the GCC, it is an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC. Following the unification of the Hejaz and Nejd kingdoms, the new state was named al-Mamlakah al-ʻArabīyah as-Suʻūdīyah by royal decree on 23 September 1932 by its founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud. Although this is translated as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in English it literally means the Saudi Arab kingdom. Its inclusion expresses the view that the country is the possession of the royal family. Al Saud is an Arabic name formed by adding the word Al, meaning family of or House of, in the case of the Al Saud, this is the father of the dynastys 18th century founder, Muhammad bin Saud. There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 125,000 years ago
3.
Faisal of Saudi Arabia
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Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he is credited with rescuing the finances and implementing a policy of modernization. His main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamism, anti-Communism, and pro-Palestinian nationalism and he successfully stabilized the kingdoms bureaucracy, and his reign had significant popularity among Saudis. In 1975 he was assassinated by his nephew Faisal bin Musaid, Faisal bin Abdulaziz was born in Riyadh on 14 April 1906. He is the son of Saudi Arabias former king, King Abdulaziz. His mother was Tarfa bint Abdullah bin Abdullatif Al Sheikh, whom Abdulaziz had married in 1902 after capturing Riyadh and she was from the family of the Al ash-Sheikh, descendants of Muhammad bin Abdul-Wahhab. Faisals maternal grandfather, Abdullah bin Abdullatif, was one of Abdulazizs principal religious teachers and advisers, Faisal had only one full sister, Nurah. She was married to her cousin, Khalid bin Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman, Faisal, like most of his generation, was raised in an atmosphere in which courage was extremely valued and reinforced. He was motivated by his mother to develop the values of tribal leadership, in 1919 the British government invited King Abdulaziz to visit London. He could not go, but sent 14-year-old Prince Faisal, making him the first ever Saudi royal to visit England and his visit lasted for five months, and he met with the British officials. During the same period, he also visited France, again being the first Saudi royal to pay a visit there. As one of King Abdulazizs eldest sons, Prince Faisal was given numerous responsibilities to consolidate control over Arabia, after the capture of Hail and initial control over Asir in 1922, he was sent to these provinces with nearly six thousand fighters. He achieved complete control over Asir at the end of the year, in 1925 Prince Faisal, in command of an army of Saudi loyalists, won a decisive victory in the Hejaz. He and Prince Mohammad were given the responsibility for the Ikhwan, Prince Faisal was appointed viceroy of Hejaz in 1926. He often consulted with local leaders during his tenure, in 1930 Prince Faisal became minister of foreign affairs, a position he continued to hold even as king. Prince Faisal visited Europe several times in this period, including Poland in 1932, upon the accession of Prince Faisals elder brother, King Saud, to the throne in 1953, Prince Faisal was appointed Crown Prince. King Saud embarked on a lavish and ill-considered spending program that included the construction of a royal residence on the outskirts of the capital. He also faced pressure from neighboring Egypt, where Gamal Abdel Nasser had overthrown the monarchy in 1952, Nasser was able to cultivate a group of dissident princes led by Prince Talal, who defected to Egypt
4.
United Nations General Assembly
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The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. The General Assembly is the deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. It has also established a number of subsidiary organs. It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions and its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, other questions are decided by a straightforward majority. Each member country has one vote, apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace, the one state, one vote power structure potentially allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue and these issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members and it now has 193, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are able to determine the agenda of the Assembly, the character of its debates. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence, the Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. The first session of the UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, the next few annual sessions were held in different cities, the second session in New York, and the third session was in Paris. It moved to the permanent United Nations Headquarters in New York at the start of its seventh regular annual session, on 14 October 1952. In December 1988, in order to hear Yasser Arafat, the General Assembly organised its 29th session in the Palace of Nations, all 193 members states of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly. The agenda for each session is planned up to seven months in advance and this is refined into a provisional agenda 60 days before the opening of the session. Items on the agenda are numbered, the General Assembly votes on many resolutions brought forth by sponsoring states. These are generally statements symbolizing the sense of the community about an array of world issues. Most General Assembly resolutions are not enforceable as a legal or practical matter, the General Assembly has authority to make final decisions in some areas such as the United Nations budget
5.
Islamic banking and finance
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Islamic banking is banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of sharia and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. As such, a correct term for Islamic banking is sharia-compliant finance. Sharia prohibits acceptance of specific interest or fees for loans of money, Investment in businesses that provide goods or services considered contrary to Islamic principles is also haraam. As of 2014, sharia-compliant financial institutions represented approximately 1% of total world assets, an early market economy and an early form of mercantilism, sometimes called Islamic capitalism, was developed between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The monetary economy of the period was based on the widely circulated currency the gold dinar, organizational enterprises independent from the state also existed in the medieval Islamic world, while the agency institution was also introduced during that time. Many of these early capitalist concepts were adopted and further advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards, the word riba literally means “excess or addition”, and has been translated as interest, usury, excess, increase or addition. According to Shariah terminology, it implies any excess compensation without due consideration, according to Islamic economists Choudhury and Malik by the time of Caliph Umar, the prohibition of interest was a well-established working principle integrated into the Islamic economic system. This interpretation of usury has not been accepted or applied in the Islamic world. The Investor is called Rab ul Maal and the party is termed as Mudarib. Further works specifically devoted to the subject of interest-free banking were authored by Muhammad Uzair, Abdullah al-Araby, Nejatullah Siddiqi, al-Najjar, in the middle of the 20th century some organizational entities were found to offer financial services complying with Islamic laws. The first, experimental, local Islamic bank was established in the late 1950s in a area of Pakistan which charged no interest on its lending. A remarkable effort in sharia-compliant savings banking was undertaken in 1963 in rural Egypt by economist Ahmad Elnaggar to appeal to people who lacked confidence in state-run banks, the experiment was shut down by the government in 1968, but was considered by many a success. By this time there were nine such banks in the country, in 1972, the Mit Ghamr Savings project became part of Nasr Social Bank which, currently, is still in business in Egypt. The influx of petro-dollars and a general following the Yom Kippur War and 1973 oil crisis gave great help to the development of the Islamic banking sector. And since 1975 it has spread the globe, in 1975, the Islamic Development Bank was set up with the mission to provide funding to projects in the member countries. The first modern commercial Islamic bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, was established in 1979, in 1980, government of Pakistan brought in regulatory framework under the caption Modaraba companies and Modarabas and rule made thereunder. The ensuing financial panic led to the bankruptcy of some companies, in 1990 an accounting organization for Islamic financial institutions, was established in Algiers by a group of Islamic financial institutions. By 1995,144 Islamic financial institutions had been established worldwide, including 33 government-run banks,40 private banks, by 2008 Islamic banking was growing at a rate of 10–15% per year and with signs of consistent future growth
6.
Asian Development Bank
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The Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The company also maintains 31 field offices around the world to promote social, the bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and non-regional developed countries. From 31 members at its establishment, ADB now has 67 members, of which 48 are from within Asia, the ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with members capital subscriptions. ADB releases a report that summarizes its operations, budget. At the end of 2014, Japan holds the largest proportion of shares at 15. 7%, the United States holds 15. 6%, China holds 6. 5%, India holds 6. 4%, and Australia holds 5. 8%. The highest policy-making body of the bank is the Board of Governors, the Board of Governors, in turn, elect among themselves the twelve members of the Board of Directors and their deputies. Eight of the members come from regional members while the others come from non-regional members. The Board of Governors also elect the president, who is the chairperson of the Board of Directors. The president has a term of office lasting five years, traditionally, and because Japan is one of the largest shareholders of the bank, the president has always been Japanese. The current president was Takehiko Nakao, who succeeded Haruhiko Kuroda in 2013, the bank employs about 3,000 people, representing 60 of its 67 members. The United States was initially opposed to the creation of regional development bank following the establishment of the Inter-American Development Bank in 1959. President Johnson pressed retired World Bank President Eugene R. Black, in the process, U. S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk urged that Japan play an important role in the ADB. He argued that the biggest danger to American foreign policy in Asia was Japans inability to integrate into the Asian society of nations following the animosities of World War II, indeed, there was sharp Asian opposition to Japans participation in the institution. After considerable diplomatic effort, Japan was eventually accepted into the organization by the majority of the participating nations, the Presidency was to rotate between the various countries of Asia. He threatened to travel to every Asian capital and scuttle the project. Eugene Black, with the assistance of President Johnson, was able to mollify President Marcos with the promise to locate the ADB in Manila. As a concession to the Japanese, they were given the inaugural Presidency of the institution - a position they have held onto ever since. By the end of 1972, Japan had contributed $173.7 million to the capital resources
7.
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
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Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is an international organization founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member states, with a collective population of over 1.6 billion as of 2008. The OIC has permanent delegations to the United Nations and the European Union, the official languages of the OIC are Arabic, English, and French. Since the 19th century, some Muslims had aspired to ummah to serve their political, economic. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate after World War I left a vacuum for a pan-Islamic institution, the al-Aqsa fire is regarded as one of the catalysts for the formation of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in 1972. Leaders of Muslim nations met in Rabat to establish the OIC on 25 September 1969, the emblem of the OIC contains three main elements that reflect its vision and mission as incorporated in its new Charter. These elements are, the Kaaba, the Globe, and the Crescent, in June 2008, the OIC conducted a formal revision of its charter. The revised charter set out to promote human rights, fundamental freedoms, the revisions also removed any mention of the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. Within the revised charter, the OIC has chosen to support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to the UNHCR, OIC countries hosted 18 million refugees by the end of 2010. Since then OIC members have absorbed refugees from conflicts, including the uprising in Syria. In May 2012, the OIC addressed these concerns at the Refugees in the Muslim World conference in Ashgabat, on 28 June 2011 during the 38th Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan the organisation changed its name from Organisation of the Islamic Conference to its current name. The OIC also changed its logo at this time, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has 57 members,56 of which are also member states of the United Nations. Some, especially in West Africa, are – though with large Muslim populations – not necessarily Muslim majority countries. A few countries with significant Muslim populations, such as Russia and Thailand, sit as Observer States, while others, the collective population of OIC member states is over 1.6 billion as of 2008. The Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States was established in Iran in 1999, only OIC members are entitled to membership in the union. On 27 June 2007, then-United States President George W. Bush announced that the United States would establish an envoy to the OIC. Bush said of the envoy, Our special envoy will listen to and learn from representatives from Muslim states, as of June 2015, Arsalan Suleman is acting special envoy. He was appointed on 13 February 2015, the OIC, on 28 March 2008, joined the criticism of the film Fitna by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, which features disturbing images of violent acts juxtaposed with alleged verses from the Quran. In March 2015, the OIC announced its support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Shia Houthis, the OIC supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
8.
African Development Bank
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The African Development Bank Group is a multilateral development finance institution established to contribute to the economic development and social progress of African countries. The AfDB was founded in 1964 and comprises three entities, The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund, the AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries. While it was headquartered in Abidjan, Côte dIvoire, the banks headquarters moved to Tunis, Tunisia in 2003, due to the Ivorian civil war. The agreement came into force on 10 September 1964, although established officially in under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Africa, the AfDB began operation in 1966. Although originally only African countries were able to join the bank, during its forty years of operations, AfDB has financed 2,885 operations, for a total of $47.5 billion. In 2003, it received an AAA rating from the financial rating agencies and had a capital of $32.043 billion. The African Development Bank Group has two entities, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund. Established in 1972, the African Development Fund started operations in 1974, in harmony with its lending strategy, poverty reduction is the main aim of ADF activities. Twenty-four non-African countries along with the AfDB constitute its current membership, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was designated as the depositor bank for the fund according to telegraphs sent from the U. S. Embassy in Abidjan in 1976. The ADF’s sources are mainly contributions and periodic replacements by non-African member states, the fund is usually replenished every three years, unless member states decide otherwise. The total donations, at the end of 1996, amounted to $12.58 billion. The ADF lends at no interest rate, with a service charge of 0. 75%, a commitment fee of 0. 5%. The tenth United Kingdom replenishment of the ADF was in 2006, the Nigeria Trust Fund was established in 1976 by the Nigerian government with an initial capital of $80 million. The NTF is aimed at assisting in the development efforts of the poorest AfDB members, in 1996, the NTF had a total resource base of $432 million. It lends at a 4% interest rate with a 25-year repayment period, the AfDB is controlled by a Board of Executive Directors, made up of representatives of its member countries. The voting power on the Board is split according to the size of each members share, the largest African Development Bank shareholder is Nigeria with nearly 9 percent of the vote. All member countries of the AfDB are represented on the AfDB Board of Executive Directors, dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina is the 8th elected President of the African Development Bank Group], having taken the oath of office on September 1,2015. He chairs the Boards of both the African Development Bank and the African Development Fund, dr. Adesina served as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2011 to 2015
9.
European Investment Bank
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The European Investment Bank is the European Unions nonprofit long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. As a policy-driven bank whose shareholders are the states of the EU. It should not be confused with the European Central Bank, the EIB is a publicly owned international financial institution and its shareholders are the EU member states. Thus the member states set the broad policy goals and oversee the two independent decision-making bodies—the board of governors and the board of directors. It is the worlds largest international public lending institution, in 2009, Caisse des Dépots, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, KfW and European Investment Bank founded the Long-Term Investors Club. The European Investment Bank was founded in Brussels in 1958 when the Treaty of Rome came into force and it relocated to Luxembourg, its current headquarters, in 1968. By 1999, it had more than 1,000 staff members, a figure that had doubled by 2012. The EIB Group was formed in 2000, comprising the EIB and the European Investment Fund, the EIB is the EIFs majority shareholder, with 62% of the shares. The total subscribed capital of the Bank was EUR232 billion in 2012, the capital of the EIB was virtually doubled between 2007 and 2009 in response to the crisis. The EU heads of government agreed to increase paid-in capital by EUR10 billion in June 2012, for the fiscal year 2011, EIB lent EUR61 billion in various loan products, bringing total outstanding loans to EUR395 billion, one-third higher than at the end of 2008. Nearly 90% of these were with EU member states with the remainder dispersed between around 150 partner countries, the bank uses its AAA credit rating and funds itself by raising equivalent amounts on the capital markets. As the Bank of the European Union, the EIBs mission is to make a difference to the future of Europe and its partners by supporting sound investments which further EU policy goals. In the wake of the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the EIB is governed by the, Board of Governors – usually the Finance Ministers of the Member States. Their mandate is to authorise EIB activities outside the Union, form credit policy guidelines, Board of directors – twenty-eight members. There are eighteen alternates, meaning some of these positions are shared by groups of states. The board also co-opts a maximum of six experts, who participate in the Board meetings in an advisory capacity, the Board has sole power to take decisions in respect of loans, guarantees and borrowings. They are responsible only to the bank, the headquarters is situated at 100 Boulevard Konrad Adenauer in Kirchberg, Luxembourg. The buildings first phase, now the West building, was designed by British architect Sir Denys Lasdun and is one of his few works outside the UK, an extension, the East building, was designed by Ingenhoven Architects, Düsseldorf
10.
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
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The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is an multilateral development bank that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The bank has 52 member states while another 18 are prospective members and was proposed as an initiative by the government of China. The initiative gained support from 37 regional and 20 non-regional Prospective Founding Members, major economies that did not become PFM include the G7/G8 members Japan and the United States, although Canada applied for membership on 23 September 2016. The United Nations has addressed the launch of AIIB as having potential for scaling up financing for development for the concern of global economic governance. The capital of the bank is $100 billion, equivalent to 2⁄3 of the capital of the Asian Development Bank, the bank was proposed by China in 2013 and the initiative was launched at a ceremony in Beijing in October 2014. The initial context was to better use of Chinese foreign currency reserves in the wake of the global financial crisis. The initiative was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping on a state visit to Indonesia in October 2013. Dominance by both countries and slow reforms underlie Chinas wish to establish the AIIB, while both worry about Chinas increasing influence. In June 2014 China proposed doubling the registered capital of the bank from $50 billion to $100 billion, indonesias joining was slightly delayed due to their new presidential administration not being able to review the membership in time. Indonesia signed the MOU on 25 November 2014, the U. S. allegedly tried to keep Australia and South Korea from becoming prospective founding members, after they expressed an interest in it. However, both Australia and South Korea applied to join the bank in March 2015, Hong Kongs Financial Secretary John Tsang announced in his budget speech in February 2015 that the territory would join the AIIB. It did however not become one of the founding members. In early March 2015, the United Kingdoms Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced that the UK had decided to apply to join the Bank, the announcement was criticised by the U. S. Obama Administration. A US government official told Financial Times, We are wary about a trend toward constant accommodation of China, the official further stated that the British decision was taken after no consultation with the US. In response, the UK indicated that the subject had been discussed between Chancellor Osborne and US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew for several months preceding the decision and it was further stated that joining the bank as a founding member would allow the UK to influence the development of the institution. Following the criticism, the White House National Security Council, in a statement to The Guardian, declared, Our position on the AIIB remains clear, the United States and many major global economies all agree there is a pressing need to enhance infrastructure investment around the world. We believe any new institution should incorporate the high standards of the World Bank. Several other European states – including Germany, France and Italy – followed the UKs decision to join the AIIB in March, States could indicate their interest in becoming a Prospective Founding Member until 31 March 2015
