OPEC To Host Special Technical Workshop “OPEC At 60”

The OPEC Secretariat will kick off the commemoration of its diamond anniversary by hosting a special technical workshop, titled “OPEC at 60”, on Tuesday, 23 June 2020, via videoconference.

The objective of the workshop is to reflect upon the Organization’s achievements over the last six decades and shed the light on how OPEC has evolved since its establishment. The workshop will review the Organization’s contributions to the global economy and energy markets, in addition to its efforts in ensuring stability in the global oil market. It will also look into the future of the Organization and how it can maintain its status as an integral part of the global economy in an ever-changing world.

Topics of discussion will include energy access, energy poverty eradication, environmental protection, sustainable development and post COVID-19 world.

OPEC Secretary General, Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, said: “Over its six decades of existence, the Organization has accumulated a vast, commendable history and the 60th anniversary offers us an opportunity to review this momentous journey and learn from its lessons to look forward to the future.”

The Secretary General added: “This special workshop will provide a platform to reflect on OPEC’s accomplishments to this day and contemplate the Organization’s bright and promising future. I have no doubt that OPEC’s best days lie ahead of it.”

OPEC was established in September 1960 when its five Founding Members met in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The meeting witnessed OPEC’s Founding Fathers – Dr Fuad Rouhani of Iran; Dr Tala’at al-Shaibani of Iraq; Ahmed Sayed Omar of Kuwait; Abdullah Al-Tariki of Saudi Arabia; and Dr Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo of Venezuela – write a new chapter in the history of international cooperation and the oil sector, leading to the birth of the Organization.