JEDDAH: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen, in Jeddah on Sunday. Ghani praised the role of Saudi Arabia and of King Salman in hosting the International Ulema Conference on Peace and Security in Afghanistan 2018, in Makkah in 2018. He also noted the continuous support provided by the OIC for his country and its active role in promoting peace and security. Ghani said his country sought to develop ties with the OIC to carry out cultural and social projects to combat extremism, hatred and terrorism. Al-Othaimeen reiterated the organization’s commitment to promoting peace, security, stability and development in Afghanistan. He also praised the role of the Afghan government in combatting extremism and fighting terrorism, and condemned the recent bombings in the capital Kabul.   Meanwhile, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Afghan Ministry of Finance signed an agreement to establish and equip a 100-bed cardiac center in Kabul to provide high-quality cardiac health services in Afghanistan, in addition to establishing four integrated rural health care centers to improve access to primary health care services in four Afghan provinces. The agreement was co-signed by the president of the IDB, Dr. Bandar Hajjar, and the Afghan minister of finance, Dr. Mohammad Qayoumi. Each of the four rural health care centers will provide a wide range of services in an area of up to 60,000 people. The total cost of the project is $24.84 million based on the preliminary estimates provided by the late King Abdullah’s Fael Khair Program, run by the IDB. After signing the agreement, Hajjar met with Ghani and discussed ways to develop relations between the two sides. Ghani spoke of his country’s economic assets, which chiefly depend on agriculture, emphasizing that the IDB’s support for agricultural value chains in Afghanistan is important for developing agricultural production and moving it from the stage of exporting raw materials to exporting products. Hajjar briefed the Afghan president on the efforts of IDB to improve production and productivity in its member countries.