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 in-coming Secretary General of Saudi Arabia’s continuous support for OPEC especially at this critical time for the global oil industry. King Salman noted that as a founding Member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia will continue to render support to the Organization and make necessary sacrifices for the unity and progress of the group. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques congratulated Barkindo and Nigeria for emerging OPEC Secretary General after four years of impasse.

The custodian of the two holy mosques king Salman bin abdulaziz al-Saud receiving Dr Muhammad sanusi barkindo, OPEC Secretary General- Designate to the Royal Place, Makkah al- Mukarramah on Saturday

Speaking on Nigeria, King Salman commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his dogged determination to change Nigeria for the better, and assured of Saudi Arabia’s support for Nigeria, while calling on the international community to support Buhari’s initiative.

In his response, 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 even when they were also in the race.

He appealed to the King to continue to provide leadership to OPEC noting that the unity of purpose demonstrated at the June Conference of the Organization was exemplary and needs to be sustained especially during this challenging times for the oil industry.

Dr. Barkindo commended the King for his Vision 2030 project pointing out that its relevance goes beyond Saudi Arabia to all OPEC Member Countries.

“It is a project 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, is expected to assume duty at the OPEC Secretariat, Vienna, on 1st August 2016.