JEDDAH — The 169th session of the Board of Governors of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) began here on Tuesday with Finance Minister Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan welcoming the members to the key meet. The two-day meeting ends Wednesday.

Al-Jadaan welcomed the fact that the meeting was held in the Kingdom and thanked the OFID Board members for accepting KSA's invitation to hold the 169th session here. He hoped that the meeting would achieve positive and constructive outcomes.

The minister explained that, at present, 134 states worldwide has benefited from OFID financial assistance. He added that financial assistance of approximately $24.5 billion has been provided since 1976.

He further pointed out that KSA's contribution to OFID is about 34% ranking first with the highest contribution amounting to $903.30 million followed by Venezuela about (15.8%) then Kuwait (12.3%).

OFID is an intergovernmental development finance institution based in Austria.

It was established by the member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1976.

The gouping was set up with the aim of enhancing cooperation between OPEC member countries and other developing countries, where development finance and technical support are provided to the developing countries, particularly the low-income countries, in pursuit of achieving social and economic development in such countries.

OFID currently has 12 members: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.