Isfahan to host 29th OFID ministerial summit

TEHRAN, June 15 (MNA) – The 29th summit of the 12 member states of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) will be opened on June 17 in the city of Isfahan, Mehr reported on Sunday.

According to a report released by Iran’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance the three-day event will be officially inaugurated by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. 

 

The 123rd gathering of the OFID’s members of the board of directors will also be held in the same place on June 18.

 

Participants at the gathering are to select the new secretary general of the Fund for a three-year term and discuss ways for outsourcing development plans in underdeveloped countries.

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran, Algeria, Gabon, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela are the permanent members of the OFID.

 

The fund was at first proposed to be established at the First OPEC Heads of State Summit in Algiers, Algeria in 1975.

 

Known initially as the “OPEC Special Fund,” it was originally intended to be a temporary facility, and started its operations in August 1976 with an initial endowment of $800 million and within little over a year its resources doubled.

 

By the end of 1977 the fund had extended 71 loans to 58 developing countries as well as channeling donations from its Member Countries to other development institutions including the IMF Trust Fund and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

 

The OPEC Fund became a full fledged, permanent international development agency in May 1980.

 

END