JEDDAH: Trade among the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) grew rapidly during the Ten Year Plan of Action (2005-2015) from $1.77 trillion in 2005 to $3.43 trillion in 2015, an increase of 93 percent.
A report, issued by the Islamic Center for the Development of Trade (ICDT) for the period of 2016-2017, attributed this growth to the rise in the prices of exchanged products, especially hydrocarbons, and the increase of projects financed by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group subsidiaries-Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit, and the Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector-, as well as the facilitation of the trade carried out by the ICDT, the OIC Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (ICCIA).
This growth has been supported by the competency-building activities in the commercial and economic sector carried out by the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), the ICDT and the IDB Group in cooperation with the specialized agencies of the United Nations.
According to the report, many of the OIC member states have also invested in trade facilitation, in terms of road and airport infrastructures during the period from 2010 to 2016, with a growth rate of 10 percent.
