Iran Urges Coordination among Energy Exporters
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday called for closer interaction among energy exporting countries to maintain stability in the market.
It is necessary for the countries that produce and export energy to coordinate policies for the sake of stability and balance of the market, President Rouhani said in a meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro, who is in Tehran to attend the 3rd GECF (Gas Exporting Countries Forum) Summit.
The Iranian president also hailed Venezuela’s efforts to maintain a balance in the global oil market.
Describing the GECF summit as a “show of power” by the gas exporting countries, President Rouhani noted that members of the forum seek to produce “clean energy” and “protect the environment more effectively.”
He further touched on Tehran-Caracas bilateral relations, voicing Iran’s readiness to expand scientific and academic ties with Venezuela, meet the Latin American nation’s trade and industrial demands and carry out joint projects with it.
Maduro, for his part, lauded the bilateral relations with Iran, which he said are based upon “political trust.”
The Gas Summit is a meeting of GECF member countries’ heads of state and government. It is an opportunity for the heads of state to interact and exchange views.
Apart from Maduro, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Iraqi President Fuad Masum, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, and the President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo are in Tehran to attend the GECF Summit.
The forum, founded in 2001, unites leading natural gas exporting countries and coordinates cooperation between its member states.
Iran, Russia, Algeria, the UAE, Venezuela, Qatar, Egypt, Bolivia, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago are the members of the forum and the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Peru, Iraq, Oman, and Norway hold observer status.
