THE OPEC FUND IN THE WORLD
EVENTS
OPEC Fund Development Forum 2025
Global leaders gather in Vienna to boost development with pioneering new initiatives. They are much needed
Transforming adversity into opportunity
I n the face of multiple global challenges the development community must come together and act. “Together, we can transform adversity into opportunity,” OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said in his opening address at the institution’s fourth Development Forum at the Hofburg in Vienna, Austria in mid-June. Speaking to a packed hall of global leaders he called on multilateral development banks (MDBs) to become not only better, bigger and more effective, but also to go one step further: “In a world of tightening resources, we must also become smarter.” As the host of a global development conference, now in its fourth year, the OPEC Fund made a determined effort to lead by example. The OPEC Fund announced some US$720 million in new financing to support development
efforts across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and saw the signing of US$362 million in new loan agreements. A new Trade Finance Initiative is set to secure vital supplies and help close trade-related liquidity gaps in partner countries. In front of an in-person audience of some 650 attendees, President Alkhalifa set out the OPEC Fund’s latest achievements such as the record results in 2024 with US$2.3 billion in new commitments as well as recent initiatives such as the new Island Resilience Facility or the pledge of up to US$2 billion in two years to the World Bank’s Mission 300 initiative for the electrification of Africa. Addressing a current global emergency, President Alkhalifa unveiled a new OPEC Fund Trade Finance Initiative for the period 2025-2030 “targeting billions in support to help countries” secure strategic imports,
“In a world of tightening resources, we must become not only better, bigger and more effective, but also smarter.”
Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, President, OPEC Fund
address trade-related liquidity gaps and strengthen resilience. He explained: “Trade is the cornerstone of development, but that foundation is cracking under pressure.” Held under the theme “A Transition That Empowers Our Tomorrow” the
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