QNA/Doha
HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi yesterday opened the 35th session of the Ministerial meeting of the Opec Fund for International Development (OFID), which is hosted by Qatar.
Addressing the opening ceremony, the Minister of Finance said recent years had shown that the OFID works effectively and efficiently to serve its objectives.
“OFID must have a clear imprint, particularly as we are in the process of identifying new features for the international development goals for goals beyond 2015, he added.
He expected the OFID Strategic Plan to be presented to the ministerial council in 2015. The plan will set the objectives, priorities and work programme of OFID for the next 10 years, he explained.
HE al-Emadi pointed to the optimistic forecasts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the growth of the global economy, adding that the projected growth through the year 2015 is around 3.9 % compared with 3.6% in 2014.
“What is interesting here is the rapid growth in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa as a result of investment in natural resources”, he said stressing that transferring $1bn worth energy allocations to the allocation of renewed nature is an important motive to support growth in Africa, which has more than half of OFID operations.
While energy, particularly energy for the poor, represents a priority in the interests of OFID, the paradigm shift to the economies of developing countries needs to develop the infrastructure and strengthen the education and health services, he added.
The Minister stressed that these objectives need large projects adopted by the public sectors and supported by development organisations like OFID, pointing to the need for the private sector intervention to promote economic march as the budget of these countries cannot cover the projects.
HE al-Emadi pointed to the new opportunities in emerging markets, which are expected to achieve 5.3% growth in 2015 compared to 5% in the current year, noting that such optimistic figures will lead to a surge in trade between emerging markets and global trade in general.
He said this reflects OFID’s right vision when it started to form its financing window for trade in 2007, which has now become one of the important development windows of the Fund.
The ministerial council discussed OFID’s audited financial statements during the fiscal year that ended on December 31 and ratified it in addition to the annual report of 2013 activities.
The meeting agenda also included electing a new chairman and vice-chairman of the council after Qatar’s term, represented by HE al-Emadi, came to an end. It also featured reviewing a report on grants that was offered in 2013 and the recommendations of the board of trustees regarding financing and grants in 2014.
OFID is an intergovernmental development finance institution founded by member-states of OPEC in 1976.
HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi
