OPEC Fund for International Development Director General Abdul Hamid Al Khalifa met Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP31 in Antalya. He proposed signing a three-year country partnership strategy with Türkiye, along with a framework agreement to expand financing for private-sector projects.
The strategy would shift cooperation, which has so far been conducted on a project-by-project basis, to a multi-year framework with defined priorities for the first time. The framework agreement would enable the fund to provide direct financing to Turkish companies on a broader scale and at a faster pace. Şimşek was invited to the fund’s headquarters in Vienna on June 22 to sign both agreements.
$250 million for railways
Şimşek welcomed the fund’s $250 million contribution to the EnRail railway project, valued at $6.75 billion and financed by seven international financial institutions, which strengthens the Middle Corridor. He stressed that the green and digital transformations are at the heart of Türkiye’s economic program, calling for the fund’s resources to be directed toward private-sector investments in these areas.
The OPEC Fund, established in 1976 and headquartered in Vienna, is an active development partner in Türkiye in the fields of health, agriculture, the green transformation and transport. It financed emergency hospitals in the earthquake-affected region in 2024.
Photo: Anadolu