Press Release

OPEC Fund delegation in Morocoo on official visit

Director-General Al-Herbish to meet with Prime Minister Jettou

121/2005 December 7, 2005, Rabat, Morocco
Press inquiries:

The Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development, Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, arrives today in Rabat, Morocco, at the head of an official OPEC Fund delegation to the North African country.

Over the next two days, the delegation will attend a series of meetings with Prime Minister Driss Jettou and a number of other cabinet ministers, to review the long-standing cooperation between the Fund and Morocco. Talks will include an assessment of joint operations to date as well as proposals for future collaboration, particularly in the private sector.

The Fund and Morocco have been development partners since 1977, with Fund loans totaling US$95 million supporting projects in the agriculture, water supply, national development banks, education and energy sectors. Since concluding an investment protection agreement with the Government in 2001, the Fund has also been exploring possibilities for private sector investment in the country. In addition, the Fund has extended over US$4 million in grant assistance to the Kingdom for a wide range of projects and programs, a large number of them in the agriculture sector.

Prior to his arrival in Rabat, Mr. Al-Herbish attended the annual meeting, in Marrakech, of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an umbrella body dedicated to increasing the quantity and quality of food production in developing countries through research, training and assistance to national agricultural research systems. The Fund is a prime supporter of the CGIAR and has approved grant financing in excess of US$17 million to advance the Group’s activities.