By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey on Wednesday signed two loan agreements worth nearly $570 million with Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
The country’s Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek and the IDB’s President Bandar Hajjar signed the agreements during the 33rd Ministerial Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC), under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to Turkish Treasury, the IDB will provide Turkey's General Directorate of State Railways (TCDD) with a 312 million euro ($367 million) loan to finance "10 High Speed Train Sets Project". It added the maturity of the loan is 20 years including a 5-year grace period.
In the same ceremony, another loan agreement worth $200 million was signed between the Development Bank of Turkey and IDB under the Turkish Treasury guarantee with same conditions.
Turkey's Undersecretariat of Treasury said that the second loan will be used in the financing of the "Clean Energy and Energy Infrastructure Program."
The COMCEC, which is headquartered in Ankara and chaired by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was established during the 3rd Islamic Summit held in 1981 and became operational in 1984.
As the highest ministerial platform for the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) -- the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN -- the COMCEC aims to improve economic and commercial relations among member countries.
The IDB was established in 1975 to foster economic development and social progress in member countries. The bank currently has 57 members with its head office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.