Fuad Rouhani

Fuad Rouhani ( born October 23, 1907 in Tehran, † January 30, 2004 in London, England) was an Iranian diplomat and first Secretary General of OPEC.

Life

Rouhani first worked in the oil industry controlled by the United Kingdom of Persia, before he could pursue studies in law at the University of London with the help of a scholarship, to then work as a lawyer.

Later he became a government official and advised the Iranian government in 1951 with the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which led to the nationalization of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company ( APOC ). Later, he was an advisor of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in petroleum affairs.

After the founding of OPEC and the establishment of its headquarters in Geneva, he was elected on 21 January 1961 the first Secretary General of OPEC, so took the highest administrative positions within the organization and looked at first especially with the exchange between the Member States concerned. Some leaders of the oil producing countries favored while an aggressive negotiating style against the multinational oil companies, which should include political and Islamic religious views. Rouhani moved the other hand, favored a more moderate, non- ideological approach and helped that Iran could preempt a radical Arab influence within OPEC. After his election time he was followed on 1 May 1964, the Iraqi Abdul Rahman al - Bazzaz, Office of the Secretary General of OPEC.

He then spent a year working as a visiting professor of Iranian studies at Columbia University. Subsequently, he was 1965-1968 Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation for Development ( RCD), the forerunner of the Organization for Economic Cooperation (ECO), and was significantly involved in the promotion of economic integration between Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.

Once in the wake of the Islamic Revolution his house and property was confiscated in Iran in 1979, he went into exile, first to Geneva and then to London, where he later died.

In addition to an autobiographical history of OPEC, entitled A History of OPEC (1971 ), he also translated the works of Plato and Aeschylus' The Persians in the Persian language.