Iran Invites Algeria to GECF Summit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iran's Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian in a meeting with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika invited the energy-rich North African country to attend the 3rd Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Summit, due to be held in Tehran in November.
The Iranian minister met Algeria’s president in Algiers on Monday and extended the invitation to the summit, sent by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Bouteflika thanked Iran for the invitation, saying his country will attend the upcoming summit at the highest level possible.
Iran will hold the 3rd GECF Gas Summit on November 23, 2015.
During the meeting, also attended by Algeria’s foreign and energy ministers as well as Iran’s ambassador to Algiers, Chitchian and Bouteflika also discussed economic ties.
Pointing to a decline in global oil prices, the African president called for increased consultation between Iran and Algeria to address the economic consequences of falling crude prices.
For his part, Chitchian called for efforts to enhance mutual economic ties and to prepare the ground for stronger presence of the Iranian companies in the African country.
Algeria, Africa's largest gas producer, is one of the 13 members of the GECF and supplies a fifth of Europe's gas needs.
Members of the forum include Iran, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
Gas producers formed the group over a decade ago. The GECF says its members control 80 percent of world gas production and 70 percent of LNG production.