THE HISTORY OF THE OPEC FUND
In coordination with partner countries and other donors, the OPEC Fund adopted a fast-track approval process, enabling the rapid deployment of urgently needed financing. The growth of the OPEC Fund continued steadily – and in parallel grew its reputation and recognition. When the institution marked its 10th anniversary in 1986, the Federal President of Austria, Rudolf Kirchschläger, honored the OPEC Fund with a keynote address and former Chancellor Bruno Kreisky was among the prominent speakers. At that point, the OPEC Fund had committed US$3.1 billion to more than 400 projects in 83 countries. President Kirchschläger said: “We are very happy that the [OPEC] Fund made Vienna its permanent Headquarters… Austria is conscious of the needs and wishes of the developing countries [and] highly appreciates the role the OPEC Fund has played in the first 10 years of its existence. May the [OPEC] Fund’s second decade be as successful as its first.” And so it came to pass. Director- General Abdulai was reappointed for a second five-year term in 1988. In a speech to the US Development Committee in Washington, DC that same year he warned: “We believe the time is right for a new debate on the future of the world economy as it bears on the prospects of the developing world. We urge a pragmatic effort to chart the broad outlines of what can reasonably be done by all concerned to help plan an acceptable medium-term future.” The appeal was greatly boosted by global events. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in late 1989, communist rule in central and eastern Europe ended
Marking the OPEC Fund’s 10th anniversary with a high-level event, headlined by the Federal President of Austria, Rudolf Kirchschläger
Fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic In Africa, the OPEC Fund teamed up with the World Health Organization (WHO) to implement projects in 12 Sub-Saharan countries. The OPEC Fund/WHO Initiative Against HIV/ AIDS, launched in October 2002, covered some of the poorest and hardest hit countries. The first step was to help participating countries update their HIV policies and set guidelines for appropriate interventions. The second stage involved capacity building at local and national levels. Zambia became a good example of how the initiative worked. In 2003, the southern African country held an unenviable record. Because of HIV/ AIDS the average life expectancy at birth was just 32.7 years, the lowest in the world except for Lesotho. The illness was referred to as a “viral genocide” striking down 200 Zambians every day. The OPEC Fund/ WHO initiative helped to develop community and home-based care and support for people living with HIV/ AIDS and their families. It achieved
this by providing 6,000 home-based care kits with items which were often too expensive for ordinary families to buy for themselves. A consequence of the spread of the disease was that an estimated 600,000 children were orphaned and a further 1.6 million lost one parent. The OPEC Fund supported initiatives like Children’s Town with a US$150,000 grant, located in the rural district of Chibombo, some 90 km from the capital Lusaka. Children’s Town is a unique and safe haven for destitute youth providing shelter, food, medical care, schooling and practical skills training. Project Coordinator, Moses Zulu, said: “Children’s Town is the final destination for children with no one to take them under their wing, usually after a long and cruel period of neglect, child labor or other abuses no youngster should endure. The education of children and youth is of the utmost importance for any nation. Only equipped with appropriate knowledge can they contribute productively and significantly to the development of their respective communities and society in general.” Other HIV/AIDS projects financed by the OPEC Fund included an initiative in Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe to provide support and implement action plans to eliminate the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mothers to their children, or a program in 12 countries across the Global South to prevent HIV/AIDS by building an effective treatment system to reduce drug overuse.
and the countries of the region regained freedom and sovereignty. Only two years later, the Soviet Union was confined to history on December 26, 1991. The “New World Order” that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George Bush had proclaimed after the end of the Cold War, quickly made way for the “End of History” as described by Francis Fukuyama in his 1992
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