http://www.english.hadhramaut.info OFID offers $25 mln to finance SFD project [The Source: WASHINGTON\Hadhramaut\Saba - Saturday -12/April/2014] Yemen and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) have signed an US$25-million agreement to finance the 4th stage of a project of the Social Development Fund. The project aims to enable the SDF to contribute effectively to promoting social recovery and economic growth through the support of infrastructure, education and professional skills for youth and women, especially in the country’s rural areas. It also aims at alleviating poverty and achieving a sustainable development and tackling unemployment. The agreement was signed by Planning and International Cooperation Minister Mohammed al-Saadi and the OFID Director-General and Chief Executive Officer Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish. Speaking to Saba, Al-Herbish said that the signing of the agreement was taken place within the framework of the OFID’s keenness to fulfill its commitments, which were announced at the donors' conference held in Riyadh, to support the development sector in Yemen. "Since 1976, the total development aid to Yemen reached US$280 million, financing 21 projects in various economic sectors", the OFID official said. He also added that the OFID offered US$28 million-soft loans to the private sector in Yemen during the same period.