The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), an autonomous entity within the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, has signed a $100 million deal with Saudi Export Program (SEP) to help finance Saudi exports to Egypt.

The ITFC, 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, up more than 138 per cent over 2009 which saw a total of $150 million trade finance operations for Egypt, said a top offcial.

Furthermore, the above 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.

Commenting on the strategic link up with SEP, Dr Waleed Al Wohaib, ITFC chief executive, 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.'

Additionally, this 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 our four 'Trade Development' business lines that include the development of strategic commodities and are an integral component of the ITFC's 'Trade Solutions' business.

'In 2009 we signed a deal 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, ' Dr Wohaib said.

Ahmed Al Ghanam, SEP general manager, said the trade finance operation represents yet an important milestone in our strategic alliance with the ITFC.

'It not only translates our MoU into a concrete $100 million trade finance operation, but 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,' he added-TradeArabia News Service