Presidents of Bolivia, Russia, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Turkmenistan [as a guest], Iran and the Algerian prime minister are to attend a Tehran Summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) next week, the oil minister said.
Bijan Namdar Zanganeh described as unprecedented the number of heads of state who will converge on Tehran for the GECF gathering. “The Qatar summit hosted four presidents, while the forum in Russia was attended by three.”
He said that the event is aimed at promoting cooperation between rivals and added, “Member states are mature enough to have cooperation in tandem with competition.”
Zanganeh said natural gas exports through pipeline to faraway destinations like Europe are difficult and need the approval of a lot of countries along the route, and added that’s why Iran prefers exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.
