OFID enhances energy cooperation with key US partners

On May 17, OFID Director-General, Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, met with a team in New York from The Earth Institute at Columbia University, comprising Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Institute, and Professor Vijay Modi, as well as Mr. S.Vijay Iyer, World Bank Sector Director, Sustainable Energy Department. Mr. Al-Herbish was accompanied by Mr. Faris Hasan, Director, Corporate Planning and Economic Services.

Discussions focused on potential cooperation between OFID and the Earth Institute, as well as projects related to the Institute's Global Village initiative.   Mr. Al-Herbish also met with the US State Department in Washington, DC, to discuss cooperation with USAID and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) within the framework of a USAID initiative entitled Powering Agriculture Grand Challenge.

For OFID, energy poverty alleviation has been a strategic priority since November 2007, when it was enjoined by its Member Countries in the Solemn Declaration of the Third OPEC Summit to sharpen its focus in this area. OFID is working with a wide network of partners and utilizing all financial instruments at its disposal towards this aim, and is supporting solutions that are tailored to local conditions and that combine renewable sources of energy with more traditional fossil fuels.