Official: Egypt, Turkey Agree with Iran to Set Up Joint Petrochemical Forum
News number: 9202242068 13:28 | 2013-05-19
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9202242068

TEHRAN (FNA)- Egypt and Turkey have welcomed Iran's proposal to set up a
joint petrochemical forum by the eight Muslim developing countries (D8), a
senior Iranian official said.

The remarks were made by Iranian Deputy Oil Minister and Managing-Director
of the National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Abdolhossein Bayat on Saturday.

Earlier this week, Iran proposed establishment of the first forum of
petrochemical and polymer-producer states to the countries present at the D8
meeting which opened here in Tehran on Monday. The petrochemical conference
of the D8 countries was held concurrent with the 10th International
Petrochemical Industry Conference.

"Turkey and Egypt, as the two biggest producers of petrochemical products
and engineering polymers in the Middle East, have agreed to Iran's
proposal," Bayat said.

The Developing-8 is a group of developing countries with large Muslim
populations that have formed an economic development alliance. It consists
of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and
Turkey.

Bayat underlined the necessity for the creation of a joint petrochemicals
market among the D8 members.

"The NPC seeks to create a big pole in the world petrochemical industry with
the cooperation of the D8 to cover a population of nearly one billion people
through multilateral cooperation and relying on this market," he added.

Iran has significantly expanded the range and volume of its petrochemical
products over the past few years, and the NPC has become the second largest
producer and exporter of petrochemicals in the Middle East after Saudi
Arabia.

Iran exports petrochemical products to more than 60 countries. The main
destinations include the Far East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa.