OAPEC’s ministers to meet in Kuwait today

Kuwaitis wait in anticipation for neutral zone to operate

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 21, (Agencies): Oil ministers of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) are set to come together in Kuwait on Sunday, focusing on how to prop up the body’s activities.

Kuwaiti Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Khaled AlFadhel will lead his country’s delegation partaking in the 103rd meeting of the Arab oil bloc, the Oil Ministry said in a press statement.

The gathering, which will be chaired by Bahraini Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalifa, will look into ways of promoting the organization’s performance and activities and the secretary-general’s report on the work and studies of the organization’s secretariat, the ministry added.

The conferees will also consider and decide upon a set of recommendations sent by the agency’s executive bureau, according to the statement.

The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) is a regional inter-governmental organization established by an agreement signed in Beirut on Jan 9, 1968 by Kuwait, Libyan and Saudi Arabia. The three founding members chose the state of Kuwait for the Organizations’ domicile and headquarters.

In 1982, the membership of the Organization increased to eleven Arab oil exporting countries namely: Algeria (1970), Bahrain (1970) (now Kingdom of Bahrain), Egypt (1973), Iraq (1972), Kuwait (1968), Libya (1968), Qatar (1970), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1968), Syria (1972), Tunisia (1982) and United Arab Emirates (1970).

Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Employees

Union of the Kuwaiti Gulf Oil Company, Saad Rashid Al-Hajri, said that Kuwaiti workers in Al-Khafji are living in a state of anticipation waiting for a decision to operate the neutral area between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia at any moment after the end of all negotiations and the signing of the final agreement by the two partners, reports Al-Anba daily.

He stressed, that the national labor force is ready to go into operation, turn the wheel of production, and to compensate for the losses caused by interruption over the past years.

Al-Hajri wonders about the company’s role in facilitating matters and overcoming sanctions saying the Kuwaiti workers suffer from problems that may result in migration, as more than 800 Kuwaitis are threatened with dismissal.