OPEC'S DECISION TO REDUCE OIL PRODUCTION PROVES THAT ITS THE ERA OF MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY, WHICH INVOLVES COOPERATION WITH RIVALS.

On October 5, OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) stunned the international community by announcing that starting this November it would be cutting oil production by 2 million barrels a day. Making it the deepest cut since the coronavirus

- Paarth Pande

pandemic. The decision makes an already energy-stressed world, at the very beginning of peak winter, more insecure. This has caused much outrage among several countries and the United States, a key ally of several member countries, has threatened that it will retaliate.

The scope of this decision goes well beyond immediate economic reaction, it highlights a new geo-political reality. The fact that nations like Saudi Arabia and UAE, countries perceived to be dependent on America, agreed to this shows that the idea of a multi-polar world is now translating into concrete policy. To not take a moment and scrutinise this decision would be doing it an injustice.