(MENAFN- Arab News) World bank group president jim yong kim who visited the islamic development bank group (idb) in jeddah on monday was given a presentation about idb's activities.

idb president ahmed mohammed ali said by 2020 idb group will become a world-class development bank inspired by islamic principles.

the idb presentation by rami ahmad adviser to the idb president reflected on comprehensive human development with a focus on the priority areas of alleviating poverty improving health promoting education improving governance and prospering the people.

idb has special funds programs and initiatives such as islamic solidarity fund for development (isfd) to alleviate poverty special program for the development of africa (spda) that aims to support investments in social and infrastructure sectors in sub-saharan africa jeddah declaration of food security which supports member countries affected by the global food crisis and youth employment in arab countries which addresses issue of high unemployment among youth in arab countries.

after listening to the idb presentation kim said idb is extremely well organized. 'i see so many different opportunities for us to collaborate."

kim was accompanied on his trip by inger andersen world bank regional vice president for mena and mouayed makhlouf the international finance corporation's regional director for mena.

kim's visit to saudi arabia is part of a three-country trip to the middle east which will include stops in lebanon and jordan.

kim highlighted the leadership role of the kingdom in global and regional economic developments emphasizing the importance of strengthening partnerships with arab bilateral and multilateral partners for development assistance and scaling up support for countries in transition.

while discussing saudi economic diversification kim said: 'we had extensive discussions about the leadership especially of finance minister ibrahim al-assaf and sama gov. fahad al-mubarak. they are very much aware of the need to diversify. we talked to great length how banks can support smes. we already discussed how the already very substantial investment in education can be improved so that we here in saudi arabia educating people who can compete in the market."

while in saudi arabia kim also exchanged views on the growing world bank-saudi partnership in supporting the poorer countries in the middle east africa and asia.

he said: "saudi arabia plays a crucial role in regional and global economic development as a major source of energy overseas development assistance foreign direct investment and remittances."