MEXICO CITY: The Islamic Development Bank represents an example of collective self-reliance, the central theme of the current conference on economic cooperation among developing countries, its Executive Director Dr S.A. Meenai said yesterday [Sept 16]. Addressing the conference … he pointed out that as an international financial institution, the bank has the unique distinction of being an association of developing countries alone. Dr. Meenai, a Pakistani, was the first speaker when the Group of 77 resumed its general debate yesterday afternoon. … He told the conference that the Islamic bank, which formally started functioning in October last, hoped to undertake some financing operations in the very first year of its working. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Cairo], President Anwar Sadat, 58, the only candidate, was voted back for a second six-year term by an overwhelming 99.9 per cent of the Egyptian electorate … in a referendum victory reminiscent of that achieved in 1964 by his predecessor, Gamal Abdel Nasser. He will be officially invested on Oct 16 and elections for Parliament — which chose him as the referendum candidate — will follow on Oct 23.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2026