Kuwait's Minister of Oil Essam Abdulmohsen Al Marzouq will head for Cairo on Wednesday to preside over the 97th meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) due to be held on Thursday, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.

Ministers of oil and energy from the member states will attend the meeting that will discuss OAPEC's budget (the General Secretariat and the Judicial Board) for 2017, besides appointing an audit for the organization's 2017 accounts, OAPEC's Secretary General Abbas Ali Al Naqi told KUNA.

The ministerial meeting will also review the 2016 activities of OAPEC's Secretariat, including environment affairs and climate change.

The Secretariat, in line with directives from the OAPEC's Executive Bureau, is following up developments of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the ensued legal mechanisms after the 2015 Paris Agreement.

In addition, the Cairo meeting will review the studies prepared by the General Secretariat during the second half of 2016, including one on the power mixture in the member states, the present and opportunities for diversification.

According to Al Naqi, the ministers will be briefed on a report on the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 22) recently held in Morocco.

Names of winners of the OAPEC scientific awards for 2016 will be announced during the meeting.

Source: MENA