His Excellency the Minister of Finance Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Jada'an headed the Kingdom's delegation participating in the annual ministerial meeting of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), held in Vienna, the Austrian capital, on July 18, 2019. The meeting agenda included discussion of the Fund's annual report for 2018, the approval of the financial statements for the fiscal year 2018 and the lending program to be granted by the Fund in 2020. The meeting also discussed OFID 's new strategy for financial sustainability. The Kingdom is the largest stakeholder in the OFID, which was established in 1976 with the aim of promoting cooperation among Member States to help low-income poor countries increase their economic and social growth. OFID provides concessional financing in the form of loans to support infrastructure projects and social service projects, and to enhance productivity by focusing on projects that meet the basic needs of developing countries such as food, energy, health care and education. It also contributes to the provision of financing for private sector projects and trade finance. The OFID s financial aids have so far benefited 134 countries around the world.
