Press Release

OFID meets with high level officials in Syria
Also paid a courtesy call to ICARDA

65/2006 June 27, 2006, Vienna, Austria
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The Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish and a high level delegation met last week in Damascus with the Prime Minister of Syria, HE Muhammad Naji Al-Otari.

Separately, Mr. Al-Herbish also met with H.E. Abdullah Al-Dardari, Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Ministry of the State Planning Commission for the Syrian Arab Republic, the Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources, HE Dr. Sofian Alow, and the Minister of Electricity, HE Dr. Ahmad Khaled Al-Ali. Discussions focused on strategies for future cooperation as well as on ways to improve the efficiency of ongoing operations.

OFID has been operating in Syria since 1979. Its support to the country’s public sector includes financing projects in the agriculture, health, education, and water supply and sanitation sectors. Syria has also benefited from a number of national and regional grants extended by OFID. Private sector financing commenced in 2003 and has steadily progressed ever since.

After the high level meetings in Damascus, Mr. Al-Herbish and his delegation proceeded to Aleppo, where they paid a courtesy call to Dr. Mahmoud Solh who assumed office as the Director General of ICARDA in May 2006. Mr. Al-Herbish, who was visiting the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) headquarters in Aleppo for the first time, was received by Dr. Solh and other senior management team members. Dr. Solh briefed him on the mandate, mission, activities and achievements of the Center, and emphasized ICARDA’s interest in strengthening research on its mandate to enhance the precision and efficiency of the Center’s crop improvement efforts, particularly for drought tolerance. Mr. Al-Herbish also made a presentation about the OPEC Fund detailing its main activities, projects, and set forth plans for future cooperation. He concluded the presentation by taking questions from the audience. Mr. Al-Herbish then visited the OFID funded laboratory and other facilities.

Established in 1977, ICARDA works through a network of partnerships with national, regional and international institutions, universities, non-governmental organizations and ministries in the developing world; and with advanced research institutes in industrialized countries. OFID has been working with ICARDA for over 25 years assisting the organization to achieve sustainable food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through scientific research and research-related activities in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, policy, and environment.