Press Release

OFID ATTENDS G77 40th MEETING OF CHAPTERS HEADS

Al-Herbish addresses gathering

52/2006 June 9, 2006, Vienna, Austria
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The Group of 77 today concluded the 40 th Meeting of the Chairmen/Coordinators of its Chapters, held in Vienna, Austria. The meeting brought together high representatives of various Chapters; ranking ambassadors; several heads of international organizations, including OFID; and key officials of other international agencies.

OFID Director-General, Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish addressed the Opening Ceremony.

The two-day meeting, which focussed on the themes, South-South Cooperation, financing partners and United Nations reform, heard presentations from, among others, the International Atomic Energy Agency; the United Nations Industrial Development Organization; the World Trade Organization; the European Commission; the UN Conference on Trade and Development; the Third World Network and the OPEC Secretariat

The G77 is the largest coalition of developing countries in the United Nations System. It provides a channel for the articulation and promotion of interests of its member states within the System and helps enhance collective negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues. Membership of the Group currently stands at 132 countries.

In his address to the meeting yesterday, OFID Director-General Mr. Al Herbish described the primary objectives of the G77 as global “shared responsibility.” He said the OPEC Fund worked with G77 countries “in our common quest to bring social and economic advancement to the southern hemisphere.” Mr. Al-Herbish told his listeners that OFID had been engaged in development for 30 years, during which the institution had delivered real resources to 120 developing countries, worldwide. “Over the past 30 years, OFID has built bridges of trust and understanding across the world, and was grateful for the opportunity it was offered by partner countries to work with them.”

The Director-General also informed delegates that the OPEC Fund was only one of several multilateral and bilateral institutions created by OFID Member Countries to pursue development cooperation.  He mentioned sister institutions, such as the Arab Fund, the Saudi, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi Funds as well as BADEA among others, which, he said, had jointly and cumulatively devoted billions of dollars to assisting developing countries, worldwide.

In his opening address, G77 Chairman and Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the UN, Ambassador Dumisani S. Kumalo, expressed gratitude to the OPEC Fund on behalf of the Group.  He spoke of a “strategic partnership between the Fund and G77,” which, he said, looked forward to expanding cooperation with the Fund.  The group, the Chairman added, attached high priority to the reform of the UN, especially because its members constituted the vast majority of the global body.  The G77 was, thus, interested to see the UN reflect more appropriately the concerns of members.  Kumalo advised, however, that all reforms must be “in conformity with [the provisions of] the UN Charter.”

The OPEC Fund has cooperated with the G77, extending grants support in the past to help finance research and studies by the Group. In January, this year, OFID provided a US$80,000 grant toward the preparation of G77 technical studies and policy papers, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Session in September this year. The Session will include, in its agenda, reviews of issues such as progress toward the Millennium Development Goals; implementation of the Monterrey Consensus; and reform of the UN System.