products; and environmental conservation must be taken into account in all these stages. Energy projects, in general, and oil projects, in particular, need substantial capital and; thus, require investors in them to look for the best possible funding solutions; including; most importantly, self-generated funds from companies' savings, commercial banks, bond issue, and global and local industrial and development funds; as well as international state-owned development banks that are based on clear developmental objectives; such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the company we are today celebrating its 40th year of existence; the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), which is considered a successful model of Arab initiatives that aim at strengthening trade relations between Arab countries, contribute to the support given to them and develop and help them make use of their important natural resources. During the last forty years, APICORP actively served the Arab energy sector by funding and equity financing a large number of distinctive energy projects, especially the Arab joint ventures of OAPEC member states, in addition to the provision of financial advisory services and energy research, and the active participation in, and full support of, the energy value chain. The fact that the funding needed for energy projects in the Middle East is estimated at 700 billion dollars over the next 10 years shows how important it is to provide adequate funding for such projects. At this point, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to commend the work method adopted by APICORP since its establishment. Although this great company was established to pursue development objectives, as pointed out earlier, APICORP's work was built on commercial bases without overlooking those development objectives. Adopting this approach was, then, a main enabler for the company to achieve its strong financial position as clearly reflected in the volume of its operations and its geographical area of operation. It is also important to note the role played by APICORP in giving priority to successful and developing joint Arab projects, and energy projects that adopt advanced technology and to the training and development of Arab talents and doing everything that will enable it to play an important and influential role in the future of the Arab energy industry. --More 13:17 LOCAL TIME 10:17 GMT تغريد
