Al Baraka Banking Group has signed a Murabaha facility of $20 million to finance foreign trade with the International Islamic Trade Finance.

The facility will be implemented through Al Baraka Islamic Bank - Bahrain.

"This agreement comes within the framework of the memorandum of understanding signed with the International Islamic Trade Finance at the beginning of the year, and is one of the fruitful results of it," said Al Baraka Banking Group president and chief executive Adnan Ahmed Yousif.

"I am pleased to sign this agreement with one of the institutions of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), where it will help both organisations to achieve strategic goals in the development of bilateral trade amongst Islamic countries, especially since Al Baraka has a large existence in most Islamic countries," he added.

"This agreement is one of the fruits of the long-term strategic partnership between IDB and Al Baraka Banking Group and their pioneering roles in establishing Islamic banking and their capacity to provide practical models that are capable of making a significant evolution in the volume of trade between Islamic countries," said International Islamic Trade Finance chief executive officer Dr Walid Wuhaib.

"Such operations are possible through the provision of funding in accordance with the Sharia and the latest practices in this area," he said.

"This will result in achieving our ambition to create a larger Islamic common market in the medium-term," Dr Wuhaib added.

"This agreement comes within the framework of the bank's plans to diversify and mobilise resources to service its growing customer base," said Al Baraka Islamic Bank president and chief executive officer Mohamed Isa Al Mutaweh.

"It will strengthen the capacity of the bank to take advantage of opportunities and respond to the needs of our customers as quickly as it would be required across all branches of the Al Baraka Islamic Bank," he added.-TradeArabia News Service