The Minister of Petroleum of Venezuela, Tareck el Aissami, said this Monday that the declaration of cooperation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries-Plus (OPEC+) would consolidate the foundations of the new post-pandemic world economic beginning.
The reaffirmation was made in connection with the Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), an act that takes place in the city of Caracas, where he recalled that in 2015 and 2016 an imbalance of the oil market was experienced, causing a deep drop in prices worldwide.
He stressed that it is known that this cooperation is the only way to reestablish and rebalance the world energy market, which is vitally important for the future of humanity. In the same way, he expressed that Venezuela supports the initiative, because it is a fundamental task.
Among the proposals are the OPEC university, the OPEC bank and the OPEC Institute for Scientific and Technological Research, which are ideas to contribute to the growth of industries and peoples of the world.
On the other hand, the minister also stated that OPEC+ is promoted by our president Nicolás Maduro and signed by 23 producer countries, of which 13 are from within OPEC, and 10 are non-OPEC countries.
He added that this OPEC+ cooperation has become the virtuous mechanism to overcome the difficulties, restore balance and achieve stability in the oil market and the world economy.
El Aissami also recalled that on September 14, 1960 in Baghdad, OPEC was born as a liberating strategy, with a central objective that was to promote and execute common policies that constitute the stabilization of the world oil market.
“In other words, it was born to join efforts and strategies to maintain a stable oil market based on the mutual interest of producers, consumers and investors”, he said.
He also reiterated that at the beginning it brought together 5 countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and today it has 13 full members, and the OPEC statutes were approved from Caracas, a few months after its foundation in January 1961.
In the same vein, he explained that in 2000 Commander Hugo Chávez promoted the second OPEC Chief of States Summit, with the objective of rescuing the essential function, the unification of the member countries, to resume the path that mark the birth of the organization.
“We cannot allow OPEC brothers to once again be pointed out as guilty of the imbalance in the world economy, the culprits are elsewhere”, said the minister, quoting the words of Commander Chávez.
