Official: Egypt, Turkey Agree with Iran to Set Up Joint Petrochemical Forum

Newspaper Title: Fars News Agency

Newspaper Number:

Sunday - 19 May 2013

TEHRAN (FNA)- Egypt and Turkey have welcomed Iran's proposal for the establishment of 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.