Mr. President;
Excellencies;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thanks to President of the Conference My thanks first of all to His Excellency Dr. Khelil, for inviting me, as Director-General of OFID, to attend this 148th Meeting of the Conference. As always, it is an honor and a pleasure to be here.
As this is my first encounter with the Conference since March last year, I am grateful to have this opportunity to congratulate the Organization on the success of the Third Summit in Riyadh. It was a seminal and highly productive meeting.
I would especially like to thank the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, for highlighting OFID in his opening address. It is encouraging to know that our work is recognized and valued at the very highest authority.
I also want to thank His Excellency, Mr. Naimi, for inviting OFID to attend the Summit and for giving us the opportunity to participate in all the various activities, most notably the Ministerial Symposium and the Exhibition. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to be congratulated for the excellent organization of the Summit and all its side-events.
As someone who has attended all three OPEC Summits, I have had the privilege of witnessing the evolution of the Organization from close quarters, and I am delighted to see that it continues to go from strength to strength.
Each Summit marked important milestones for OPEC, and also for OFID. In Algiers, in 1975, we saw the genesis of OFID, when Member Countries undertook to strengthen and better coordinate their financial cooperation with other developing countries.
The Declaration of the Second Summit in Caracas, in 2000, highlighted for the first time the issue of poverty and its eradication, describing poverty as “the biggest environmental tragedy facing the globe.”
The Third Summit resulted in a document that clearly identifies three new realities: 1) the need for stability in global energy markets; 2) the incontrovertible link between energy and development; and 3) the challenge of climate change.
As these realities crystallize, so do our responsibilities, as a group of nations, to the world at large and to our planet.
Everyone at OFID takes great pride that our institution was mentioned, not once, but three times in the Riyadh Declaration. We take great satisfaction in the knowledge that our shareholders, the Member Countries, attach such importance to our mission.
If I may, I would like to refer to the second theme of the Declaration, namely “Energy for Sustainable Development”, as this is a topic that relates directly to the mandate of OFID. As a development institution, we are more acutely aware than most of how important access to cheap and reliable sources of energy is to the development process. Indeed, almost one-fifth of our cumulative, concessional project lending has gone to support initiatives in this field. And, with the launch of our 17th Lending Program in January this year, even greater resources have been earmarked for this purpose. OFID therefore welcomes the exhortations of its masters – as spelt out in Item 6 - to intensify efforts to find solutions to the problem of energy poverty.
Indeed, we have already taken steps to turn ideas into concrete action. Chief among these is the organization of a workshop on “Energy Poverty in Africa.” This will take place in Abuja, Nigeria, later this year. Although the details still have to be fleshed out, the aim would be to mobilize expertise and resources to map a way forward. We recently held constructive talks with Dr. Yumkella, Director-General of UNIDO, and his senior colleagues, on this very subject. They have stated a willingness to participate in the workshop, to which we would also invite partner development institutions.
Your Excellencies will know that OFID has just celebrated its 32nd anniversary. In this period, we have grown steadily in size and stature. And, we have expanded beyond all expectation the scope and depth of our assistance. In the past three years alone, for example, we have established two major new financing windows. All this notwithstanding, however, the demands on our products continue to grow. The biggest challenge we face in the near future is striking a balance between the concessionality of our assistance – which is our mandate - and the sustainability of the institution. In other words, staying relevant in the market.
There has been some talk among Member Countries recently of the need to establish a new fund or program to help give development cooperation a new impetus. I believe that OFID would be the perfect channel for the delivery of any such program. We have the institutional capacity, the experience, the cooperation network and the resources to do so. OFID is both willing and prepared to take on any new challenges.
Thank you for your attention.