For his part, Dr. Ali expressed thanks to and appreciation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's king, government and people for hosting the meeting, lauding the support ever rendered by the Kingdom for the group which, he said, shares close relations with the host country. He gave hints of the report covering the last 40 years, praising the cooperation lived between the member states of the bank in all fields and the bank's interest in developing the Islamic economy and Islamic banking system. He announced that the country-to-country trade financed by the bank surged from 4 - 5% in 1975 to nearly 20% this year. --SPA 22:17 LOCAL TIME 19:17 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w