WASHINGTON, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank said on Monday it would like to work with Saudi Arabia in helping the world's poorest people cope with the burden of high energy prices.

    "We will work with the Saudi government to explore how best to support the initiative announced by King Abdullah to address the energy needs of the world's poorest countries," said World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick in a statement.

    "The combination of high fuel and energy costs is having a devastating impact on the poor, putting an especially large burden on the 1 billion people who live on less than 1 dollar a day, many of whom spend two-thirds of their income on food for their families and on energy and transport," he added.

    Saudi King Abdullah has called on the Saudi Fund for Development to allocate 500 million U.S. dollars in loans for poor country energy needs, and he asked the World Bank to organize a meeting of donors and development institutions to formulate an Energy for the Poor initiative.

    In addition, he urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund to take measures to alleviate the impact on the poor.