OFID and DFID host Workshop

(From left) HE Luis Alfonso de Alba Gongora, Ambassador of Mexico to Austria; Mr Fuad Albassam, Assistant Director-General, OFID Public Sector Operations; OFID Director-General Mr Suleiman J. Al-Herbish and Dr Mehtab Currey, Development Counselor, DFID .

On October 1, 2013, the OFID and United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) co-organized workshop, entitled “Taking Forward the Global Partnership Principles,” took place at OFID's Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

The workshop brought together policy-makers from twenty-three OECD/DAC countries, representatives of multilateral development banks and officials of the sister institutions of the Arab Coordination Group.

Objectives of the workshop were to:

The outcome of the discussions will provide input for the Mexico meeting, a draft agenda of which is being finalized by the secretariat of the Global Partnership for Effective Cooperation.

The workshop also provided a platform for Arab development institutions that are members of the Arab Coordination Group (comprising 10 development agencies, such as OFID, the Saudi Fund for Development and the Islamic Development Bank) to share views and experiences on development effectiveness. On September 30, a preparatory meeting was held at OFID headquarters to discuss various ideas and proposals that were presented at the OFID/DFID workshop.

In his opening remarks, OFID Director-General, Mr Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, affirmed the importance of the workshop to better understand the responsibilities and roles of participants as the contributors to development processes: "Development processes must be wanted, and properly owned, by our Partner Countries," he said. Read the Director-General's speech in full.