On May 15, 2019, the Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Austria Sherzod Asadov met with the Director General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) Abdulhamid Alkhalifa.
OFID, established in 1975, headquartered in Vienna, is an intergovernmental development finance institution that oversees socio-economic support of developing countries.
Uzbekistan has been cooperating with the OFID since 1999. Currently, the Fund finances the implementation of two projects in our country for a total of $26 million, in particular, for water supply to rural settlements of Kasan and Mubarak districts of Kashkadarya region and development of drinking water infrastructure in the Kushrabad district of Samarkand region. In March 2019, the Fund’s Management Board approved a project to provide drinking water to 22 localities in the Yangikurgan district and the city of Namangan for a total amount of $54 million.
During the meeting, Abdulhamid Alkhalifa was informed in detail about the Action Strategy initiated by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Five Priority Areas for the Development of Uzbekistan in 2017-2021 and measures taken in the “Year of active investments and social development”.
Abdulhamid Alkhalifa praised the transformations that have taken place in Uzbekistan in recent years and stressed his inspiration with dynamism and vigor of Uzbekistan’s foreign policy, which directly contributes to strengthening and expanding the country's foreign economic relations, enhancing international standing, and its role in solving regional and international issues.
During the meeting, specific agreements were reached on attracting the assets of the Foundation to implementation of infrastructure projects in the Surkhandarya region and granting preferential loans for representatives of the private sector of Uzbekistan.
Abdulhamid Alkhalifa also expressed his readiness to make a visit to Uzbekistan before the end of this year in order to get acquainted with the course of economic reforms in detail and discuss with the officials of our country further prospects for fruitful cooperation with the Foundation he heads.
