Against the backdrop of the need for global cooperation to mitigate the world's challenges, the Minister of International Cooperation, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, is participating in the first OPEC Fund Development forum in Vienna to strengthen purposeful dialogue and drive concrete action around key development issues, including climate change, energy access and food security.

The participants include the Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Minister of Finance of the Maldives, Ibrahim Ameer, Minister of Water and Sanitation of Malawi, Abida Sidik Mia, Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Islamic Development Bank Group, Dr. Ahmed Saeed, Vice President of Operations at the Asian Development Bank, and Hela Cheikhrouhou, IFC's regional Vice President for the Middle East, Central Asia, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

The Minister is scheduled to participate in a number of events, in addition to holding a number of bilateral meetings with development partners to unlock development finance opportunities. 

The one-day forum aims to nurture synergies between countries and sectors worldwide, unlock new funding opportunities, and feed into international efforts such as the next UN Climate Conference in Egypt in November 2022. 

Egypt and the OPEC Fund for International Development share a long partnership history characterized by a strong development cooperation, with a cooperation portfolio that amounts to around 1.5 billion dollars.