Press Release

OFID pledges to further strengthen relations with African countries

Al-Herbish addresses Sullivan Summit plenary in Abuja

71/2006 July 19, 2006, Abuja, Nigeria
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The Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Mr. Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish, today said Africa deserved the commitment and cooperation of the international community to realize its various goals; a task OFID has been committed to since its inception. Al-Herbish was speaking at the VII Leon H. Sullivan Summit, holding in Abuja, the Nigerian federal capital. The Director-General is in Nigeria on a first official visit to exchange views with the Nigerian leadership. He was received yesterday by the Nigerian President, HE Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, after other meetings with ranking officials, including the Honorable Minister of Finance, HE Mrs. Nenadi Esther Usman. The meetings continue today.

Al-Herbish told the Sullivan Summit that OPEC and OFID were both working (in cooperation with partners) to enhance global progress: OPEC was working to ensure market stability and the security of energy supply with all the heavy investment involved; while OFID focussed on sustainable development. Mr. Al-Herbish addressed the plenary segment on Corporate Social Responsibility: doing well, doing good, stimulating development. He said OFID “has been engaged in development financing for three decades, delivering close to US$8 billion in commitments to 120 countries, many of them in Africa. “We have paid particular heed to the needs of Africa, ensuring that about half of OFID resources are allocated to that region,” he declared. He declared that he was totally in agreement with the theme of the Summit, that Africa was a continent of opportunities.

OFID, the Director-General explained, had been involved in Africa since OFID’s inception in 1976. He asserted that the institution has “paid significant attention to issues of current concern to the continent, including the global campaign against HIV/AIDS; the progress of HIPC; and cooperative networking toward the accomplishment of the MDGs.” Mr Al-Herbish related that he had received the endorsement of President Obasanjo to look into organizing, in 2007, a Workshop on Development of SMEs, Micro- Finance and Capacity Building in Africa. The Workshop will likely hold in Abuja.

Fielding questions, Mr. Al-Herbish assured his packed audience that OFID was equally devoting attention to housing and food security issues. Although OFID was no relief organization, the institution has provided grant funding, over the years, to help build shelter and accommodation in several countries, working mainly through organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations System.

The Sullivan summits are major endeavors aimed at building bridges between Africans on the continent and Africans in the global Diaspora, particularly African-Americans. The Leon Sullivan Foundation - organizers of the summits - dedicates itself to bringing corporate engagement to Africa and working to ensure that multinationals and other institutions pay due respect to humanitarian and human rights concerns. Since their inauguration in 1991, the summits have sought to be a link between the US and Africa; “not only for governments and business, but also for the people.” Several heads of state and government, business leaders and heads of international institutions as well as leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are attending the Abuja Summit. Among the personalities in attendance are former President William J. Clinton and Dr. Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank. The recurrent focus here is on the role of the private sector in Africa’s development. The summit is emphasizing investment opportunities, highlighting creative approaches to developing indigenous enterprise, accentuating self-reliance, while “presenting models for successful business practices in corporate social responsibility.” The Leon Sullivan Foundation is named after the former American civil rights advocate, who worked to create “Sullivan principles,” that, among other achievements, helped to dismantle apartheid in South Africa.