Release number IFAD/07/07

IFAD Governing Council meets today in Rome

Rome, 14 February 2007--- Addressing delegates at the opening plenary of the 30th Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) declared, “It would certainly help our cause if the G-7 nations accorded as much importance to the MDGs on their agenda as they do to issues like global warming, energy security and debt relief.”

Al-Herbish emphasized that, “If the MDGs’ primary goal of halving the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015 is to be met, our continued focus on addressing the needs of the rural poor is an absolute necessity.” 

Al-Herbish’s speech focused on three challenges facing rural development in the poorest areas of the world: increasing the effectiveness of aid delivery to the rural sector; ensuring that liberalization and globalization do not further disenfranchise the rural poor; and adapting farming practices to overcome the obstacles presented by environmental influences.

Of the last challenge, he underscored that it is the most difficult of the three to overcome. “Climate change has made a hard life even harder for the rural poor [for whom] the agricultural way of life – the only life they know – has to be preserved, and this means finding ways, not only to combat climate change, but to adapt to it as well.” 

The OPEC Fund for International Development is an intergovernmental development finance institution, established in 1976 by the then 13 member countries of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

At the end of last year, the total amount of development assistance provided by OFID exceeded $US8.6 billion.

The Member states of OPEC were instrumental in the establishment of both IFAD and OFID in 1977 and 1976, respectively, paving the way for what today is a unique partnership that transcends mere financial cooperation. To date, IFAD and OFID have implemented over 60 programmes together.

Today, the 12 Member countries of OFID are Algeria, Gabon, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects that enable poor rural people to overcome poverty themselves. There are 185 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.1 billion. IFAD has invested US$2.9 billion in these initiatives. Cofinancing has been provided by governments, beneficiaries, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. At full development, these programmes will help nearly 77 million poor rural women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.5 billion in 732 programmes and projects that have helped more than 300 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Governments and other financing sources in the recipient countries, including project participants, have contributed US$9.1 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.1 billion in cofinancing.