Representatives of the Ministry of Family and Social Policy of the Republic of Turkey paid a visit to King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Foundation and Islamic Development Bank on 23-30 June 2012, in Saudi Arabia. The delegation composed of decision makers and experts visited King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Foundation first. They were informed about the technical infrastructure of the social housing projects undertaken by the foundation. Later, the delegation went one of the construction site of the charity houses and were briefed about the management and funding processes of the construction.

Following, representatives of the Ministry paid a visit to IDB headquarter and received detailed information on the history, objectives and institutional structure of the bank. They were briefed about the state of poverty in IDB member countries and IDB’s strategy to response the problem of poverty. IDB policies to address the poverty problem such as regional funds (Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, Special Programme for the Development of Africa (SPDA), youth funds for Middle East region) were presented. In addition to IDB, Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), sub-organ of IDB, made a presentation and informed the Turkish delegation about their trainings on poverty alleviation strategies with the participation of OIC Member Countries.

Throughout the study visit, the delegation also met with Dr. Ahmet Tıktık, vice president of IDB. They made a brief presentation on General Directorate of Social Assistance’s projects targeting to ameliorate poverty alleviation policies in Turkey. Further, they informed Dr. Tıktık about Social Assistance Information System (SOYBIS) and Integrated Social Welfare Services Project. Mr. Aziz Yıldırım, Director General, expressed their enthusiasm to share Turkey’s social assistance experience with OIC Member Countries as well as their aspiration to enhance technical cooperation between IDB and the Ministry on poverty-related areas.

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