Die OPEC eröffnet feierlich ihr neues Gebäude in Wien und trifft sich bei der 156ten Konferenz.
The 156th Meeting of the Conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) convened in Vienna, Austria, on 17 March 2010, under the Chairmanship of its President, HE Germánico Pinto, Minister of Non-Renewable Natural Resources of Ecuador and Head of its Delegation, and its Alternate President, HE Masoud Mir-Kazemi, Minister of Petroleum of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Head of its Delegation.
The Conference marked this first Meeting to be held in the Organization’s new Headquarters’ Premises in Vienna with an inauguration ceremony attended by HE Dr Michael Spindelegger, the Austrian Federal Minister of International and European Affairs, HE Dr Michael Häupl, Mayor of the City of Vienna, the Heads of other Vienna-based international organizations and various high-level dignitaries. In so doing, the Conference recorded its appreciation to the Government of the Federal Republic of Austria and the Government of the State of Vienna for providing the Organization with these new modern office premises.
[caption id="attachment_3120" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
The OPEC new Headquater 2010[/caption]
At the Second Conference, the decision was taken to base the OPEC Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, where the first meeting of the OPEC Board of Governors convened in May 1961. In April 1965, the OPEC Conference decided to move the Headquarters to Vienna, Austria. Negotiations with the Austrian Government were successful and a Host Agreement was signed on 1 September 1965 by the OPEC Secretary General at the time, Mr Ashraf Lutfi, and the then Austrian Foreign Minister, the late Dr Bruno Kreisky. Initially, OPEC’s Vienna Headquarters was housed in two small buildings; the Headquarters was later transferred to Dr-Karl-Lueger-Ring 10, before moving in March 1977 to Obere Donaustrasse 93 alongside the Danube Canal in Vienna’s second district. In November 2009, the Secretariat moved yet again to its present premises at Helferstorferstrasse 17 in the first district.
