Tokyo pledge pleases Saudi

Press, 2 July 1979, Page 8

Tokyo pledge pleases Saudi

NZPA-Reuter London I The Saudi Arabian Oil 1 Minister (Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani) is "relatively impressed” by the Tokyo plans of the United States, west European Ministers who met him in London have said. Sheikh Yamani has been urging industrial nations to economise saying that, if their consumption of oil continues to soar, so will the price. The United States, Britain, Canada. France. Italy, Japan, and West Germany drew up plans to cut oil imports at their Tokyo economic summit meeting last week.

"Sheikh Yamani was relatively impressed that it was the first time major consumer nations of the world as a whole had definitely made an effort to cut consumption and set targets they hope to keep in the next few years,” the Irish Energy Minister (Mr Desmond O’Malley) said.

The Carter Administration is weighing a proposal to establish a billion dollar regional development fund to encourage energy exploration in Latin America, Government officials have said.

| The fund, which is being ; promoted by the InterAmerican Development Bank, the largest and oldest of the regional development banks, would provide guarantees for bank loans and would ensure investors that develop or explore for oil, gas, and mineral resources in Latin countries. Bank officials believe American interest in the project and othe- efforts to develop energy resources outside the Persian Gulf has been intensified by the oil price increase imposed last Thursday by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Several Latin American nations, including Argentina, Peru, Columbia, and Jamaica have expressed enthusiasm about the concept.

While these countries have been eager to encourage energy exploration within their boundaries, many have resisted projects funded or guaranteed solely by American oil companies or the United States Government. Generally, outside Venezuela, South American oil finds and production have been modest.