Saudi Arabia signs agreement with OPEC Fund to aid economic recovery in Somalia

Saudi Arabia has entered into a three-way agreement with the OPEC Fund and Somalia to support the East African country’s economic recovery.

Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan signed the agreement with his Somalian counterpart Bihi Egeh and the OPEC Fund president Abdulhamid al-Khalifa on the sidelines of the OPEC Fund Development Forum and Ministerial Meeting in Vienna.

Somalia’s federal government is struggling to contain violence led by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group, and local groups clashing over control of land and water in the Horn of Africa nation.

Various nations are contributing financially and with peacekeeping personnel to restore order in the country wracked by security, food, and civil issues.

Saudi Arabia’s latest agreement will align with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative launched in 1996 to ensure that no poor country faces an unmanageable debt burden.

At the event, minister al-Jadaan was said to have acknowledged the challenges that low-income developing countries face while noting that each country’s own actions play the driving role in achieving sustained economic development over time.

Separately, at the two-day event, the finance minister highlighted Saudi Arabia’s efforts to boost non-oil revenues and diversify its economy as part of Saudi Vision 2030 through labor market reforms, continued growth in higher education and training for Saudi youth, as well as improvements in the ecosystem for private sector investment, while supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.

Al-Jadaan also took part in the inauguration of the OPEC Fund expanded headquarters at the renovated Palais Colloredo-Mannsfeld on Vienna’s historic WienerRingstraße.

The multilateral development finance institution based in Austria was established by the member-states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1976 to enhance cooperation between the group and other developed countries and support low-income countries socially and financially.

The annual Vienna forum focuses on people and projects to meet basic needs such as food, energy, clean water, sanitation, healthcare, and education.