Press Release

OPEC Fund Director-General addresses Munich Conference on Security Policy

OPEC Fund Director-General highlights contributions of OPEC member countries

14/2005 February 14, 2005, Vienna, Austria

OPEC countries play a key role in preserving world peace and security by enhancing social and economic progress and promoting oil market stability, according to Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development.

Mr. Al-Herbish was addressing delegates at the 41st Munich Conference on Security Policy in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, February 12. Other speakers at the high-level meeting included UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan; US Secretary of Defense, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld; German Foreign Minister, Mr. Joschka Fischer; Secretary-General of the Council of the EU, Mr. Javier Solana and several senior US senators and policy makers; among them Senators John McCain, Chuck Graham and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The conference was opened by Federal German President, Mr. Horst Köller.

Mr. Al-Herbish (far left) addressing
the Munich Conference on Security Policy.

Mr. Al-Herbish outlined the complementary activities of the OPEC Fund and its sister institution, OPEC. Both, in their own way, he said, helped foster global security: OPEC by ensuring stable world oil supplies and prices; and the OPEC Fund through its contribution to international development efforts.

The OPEC Fund, Mr. Al-Herbish said, was the embodiment of OPEC member countries' shared commitment to the belief that development cooperation was essential to the preservation of world peace and security. Through the Fund, he revealed, member states had delivered some US$7.4 billion in development financing to 113 developing countries, the majority of them low-income nations. The bulk of this financing had been in the form of highly concessional loans or outright grants.

• » Read the Director-General's statement

Commenting on the Millennium Development Goals and the huge financing gap hampering their realization, Mr. Al-Herbish spoke of the "tough choices" facing world leaders and of the proposals made recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to mobilize additional resources through voluntary taxation. "OPEC Fund member countries made these choices several decades ago when they decided to make available a stable and predictable flow of financing for development," he declared. This, he noted, had been despite their own status as developing countries, with many challenges to face at home.

Turning to the issue of energy security, Mr. Al-Herbish asserted that access to reliable and affordable energy services was "a key ingredient in the pursuit of social and economic advancement in both industrialized and developing nations." OPEC, he stated, had ensured the security of world energy supplies for over 40 years and would continue to do so. "The organization stands firm in its commitment to maintaining a stable international oil market," Mr. Al-Herbish declared, pointing to the unprecedented efforts underway in member countries to increase investment in oil production capacity.

In 2004, Mr. Al-Herbish recalled, OPEC member countries had produced 10.6 billion barrels of oil. This amount was equivalent to the total proven reserves of Norway, twice the total reserves of the British sector of the North Sea, and 50% of the total reserves of the USA. "In order to replace this quantity, OPEC countries will spend billions of dollars in maintaining and expanding production capacity," he affirmed. This, alone, however, would not be enough to guarantee enhanced energy security. Also needed would be "greater international cooperation and dialogue on energy policies and their geopolitical dimensions," he argued.

Mr. Al-Herbish has been Director-General of the Vienna-based OPEC Fund since November, 2003. Previously, he was Governor of Saudi Arabia to OPEC for 13 years.