Editing OPEC (section)

===1975–1980: Special Fund, now the OPEC Fund for International Development===
{{Main|OPEC Fund for International Development}}
OPEC's [[international aid]] activities date from well before the 1973–1974 oil price surge. For example, the [[Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development]] has operated since 1961.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kuwait-fund.org/timeLine/?lang=en |title=Timeline |publisher=Kuwait Fund |access-date=23 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151224104007/https://www.kuwait-fund.org/timeLine/?lang=en |archive-date=24 December 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the years after 1973, as an example of so-called "[[checkbook diplomacy]]", certain Arab nations have been among the world's largest providers of foreign aid,<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://faculty.georgetown.edu/imo3/petrod/petro2.htm |chapter=Economics of Petrodollars |title=The Economic Dimensions of Middle Eastern History |pages=179–199 |author-link=Ibrahim Oweiss |first=Ibrahim M. |last=Oweiss |editor-first1=Haleh |editor-last1=Esfandiari |editor-first2=A.L. |editor-last2=Udovitch |publisher=Darwin Press |date=1990 |access-date=19 October 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/world/middleeast/cables-released-by-wikileaks-reveal-saudis-checkbook-diplomacy.html |title=Cables Released by WikiLeaks Reveal Saudis' Checkbook Diplomacy |first=Ben |last=Hubbard |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=21 June 2015 |access-date=19 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221173312/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/world/middleeast/cables-released-by-wikileaks-reveal-saudis-checkbook-diplomacy.html |archive-date=21 December 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> and OPEC added to its goals the selling of oil for the socio-economic growth of poorer nations. The OPEC Special Fund was conceived in [[Algiers, Algeria]], in March 1975, and was formally established the following January. "A Solemn Declaration 'reaffirmed the natural solidarity which unites OPEC countries with other developing countries in their struggle to overcome underdevelopment,' and called for measures to strengthen cooperation between these countries... [The OPEC Special Fund's] resources are additional to those already made available by OPEC states through a number of bilateral and multilateral channels."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ofid.org/ABOUT-US |title=About Us |work=OFID |access-date=13 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103213950/http://www.ofid.org/ABOUT-US |archive-date=3 January 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Fund became an official international development agency in May 1980 and was renamed the [[OPEC Fund for International Development]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ofid.org/Portals/0/Publications/Special%20Publications/AE-engl.pdf |title=The Agreement Establishing the OPEC Fund for International Development |work=OPEC |date=27 May 1980 |access-date=12 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424183934/http://www.ofid.org/Portals/0/Publications/Special%20Publications/AE-engl.pdf |archive-date=24 April 2017 }}</ref> with Permanent Observer status at the United Nations.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.un.org/en/sections/member-states/intergovernmental-organizations/ |title=Intergovernmental Organizations |newspaper=United Nations |access-date=28 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806153518/http://www.un.org/en/sections/member-states/intergovernmental-organizations/ |archive-date=6 August 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2020, the institution ceased using the abbreviation OFID.