07 July 2016, Sweetcrude, Riyadh — King Salman Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, Saturday, hosted OPEC Secretary General-designate Dr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo to iftar at the Royal Palace in Makkah.
While welcoming Barkindo to the Palace, the King assured the incoming Secretary General of Saudi Arabia’s continuous support for OPEC especially at this critical time for the global oil industry.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques congratulated Barkindo and Nigeria for emerging as the OPEC Secretary General after four years of impasse. King Salman noted that as a founding Member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia will continue to render support to the Organization and seeks the unity and progress of the group.
Speaking on Nigeria, King Salman commended President Buhari for his dogged determination to change Nigeria for the better, and assured Saudi Arabia’s support for Nigeria, while calling on the international community to support President Buhari’s initiative for peace and stability.
Barkindo thanked the King for the honour done to him, his President, Muhammadu Buhari, and Nigeria, with the invitation to iftar and conveyed the greetings and gratitude of President Buhari and the good people of Nigeria to the King for supporting Nigeria’s candidate.
He appealed to the King to continue to provide leadership to OPEC noting that the unity of purpose demonstrated at the June Ministerial Conference of the Organization was exemplary and needs to be sustained especially during these challenging times for the oil industry.
Barkindo commended the King for his ‘Vision 2030’ transformation pointing out that its relevance goes beyond Saudi Arabia to all OPEC Member Countries. It is an initiative that all OPEC Member Countries should emulate, he said.
Barkindo, who was appointed OPEC Secretary General by the 169th Meeting of the OPEC Conference on June 2, 2016, will assume office at the OPEC Secretariat, Vienna, on August 1, 2016.