THE HISTORY OF THE OPEC FUND
“Together we can build communities and societies that are prosperous, vibrant and sustainable.”
The OPEC Fund and IFAD
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has its origins in the UN World Food Conference of 1974, when food shortages and famine in Asia and Africa called for urgent action. OPEC country delegates suggested the establishment of an international fund to help finance food production in the world’s poorest nations. They offered to provide almost one half of the new fund’s starting capital. When IFAD was launched in December 1977, the OPEC countries, acting through the then already established OPEC Fund, pledged US$435.5 million, while OECD countries gave US$569 million and other developing countries US$20.6 million. The OPEC Fund later contributed an additional US$20 million to IFAD’s first replenishment. The establishment of IFAD as a joint effort by OECD and OPEC countries, representing developed and developing nations, was widely praised as exemplary. Speaking at its 25th anniversary celebrations in February 2003, then UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan said: “The creation of IFAD represented a new type of
Alvaro Lario, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development
partnership. It was an early example of a global alliance across geographic or ideological differences, joining together for the shared goal of eradicating poverty and hunger.” The partnership between the OPEC Fund, which considers agriculture one of its focus areas and made food security a cross-cutting theme in later years, and IFAD, which invests in rural people and communities to increase productivity, income and resilience, proved to be a perfect match. It has since gone from strength to strength and to date the OPEC Fund has provided more than US$1 billion to more than 120 projects. Examples include rural projects in Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda and Tanzania. Most recently, the OPEC Fund and IFAD signed a cooperation agreement in 2024 to strengthen food security and build climate resilience through joint projects. The latest joint project is a livestock and livelihoods development program in Sierra Leone, a country where more than 21 percent of the population is undernourished.
One of the initial goals of the OPEC Fund was to provide funding for the establishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at a time when hunger was a widespread phenomenon. Between 1972 and 1975 a three-year famine that became known as the Global Food Crisis took the lives of about 2 million people, mostly in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In response, the UN set up IFAD in 1977 and the OPEC Fund provided an initial contribution of US$435.5 million. In a speech in June 2024 the head of IFAD, Alvaro Lario, said at the OPEC Fund Development Forum: “Together we can build communities and societies that are prosperous, vibrant and sustainable.”
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