OPEC Secretary General meets Qatar's Energy and Industry Minister

OPEC Secretary General, HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, met with HE Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar on Saturday, 7 January.

The two officials review the year 2016, including the major activities and recent achievements such as the historic and landmark Algiers Accord, the subsequent Vienna Agreement, and the Declaration of Cooperation between OPEC and participating non-OPEC oil producing countries.  These historical agreements were a direct result of the close, productive collaboration between the Secretary General and Minister Al-Sada, who served as President of the OPEC Conference throughout 2016.

“Your forecast, tireless efforts and unwavering dedication, throughout the difficult year were instrumental in building to turn a historical page, in global oil in 2016.”

The Secretary General described the important leadership provided by Minister Al-Sada in his role as OPEC President, praising his “expertise, foresight and negotiating skills.” In his letter, the Secretary General noted that Dr. Al-Sada drew on “extensive industry and government experience in order to smoothly guide a broad consultative bilateral and multilateral process, which began early 2016.”  This process ranged from Doha-1, an informal talking to the signing of the historic Declaration of Cooperation on 10th December 2016.

Minister Al-Sada also expressed his deep satisfaction with OPEC’s achievements, and praised the Secretary General’s excellent leadership and technical skills, which have both been in evidence since he began his tenure on the 1st of August. “You took charge at a very critical time,” the Minister wrote in a personal letter given to the Secretary General, “hitting the ground running.”

The Minister also congratulated the Secretary General on having been named “Man of the Year 2016” by The Daily, the leading online publication in Africa.

During the high-level meeting, the Secretary General also took the opportunity to express gratitude to the Emir and Prime Minister of Qatar for their crucial support last year for the Organization and its work.  These were critical, he said, in reaching last year’s landmark achievements.  These included the establishment of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) tasked with oversight responsibility of the implementation of the agreements.  He also extended his appreciation to the technical team at the Qatari Energy Ministry for their hard work and support.

The high-level meeting was attended by several other senior Qatari officials from various ministries as well as the OPEC Secretariat and the Nigerian Ambassador to Qatar, HE Enoch Duchi.