Suriname targeting Middle East for agro-financing

PARAMARIBO (De Ware Tijd) – With the reactivation of its membership of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Suriname is going for financing of its agrarian programs by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the OIC’s financing branch. “We believe this organization is an important one, particularly when we consider the resources available through the IsDB for programs and projects,” Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Lakhin says. The Surinamese government wants to determine to what extent this financing source can be utilized. In September 2010, President Bouterse held talks in New York with OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and these talks resulted in Suriname’s reactivating its OIC membership. This was made official at a recent conference in Kazakhstan, which was attended by a Suriname delegation.