TEHRAN – Iran has officially become a member of the International Energy Charter with signing the charter’s declaration on Friday, the portal of Energy Ministry reported.

Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian signed the document on the sidelines of the 27th meeting of the Energy Charter Conference in Tokyo.
Secretary General of Energy Charter Secretariat Urban Rusnak, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida, and representatives from the member states were also present in the event.
Held annually, the International Energy Charter conference aims to reflect on issues in world’s energy sector; to review the implementation of the provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty and the Protocol on Energy Efficiency and Related Environmental Aspects, and to consider possible new instruments and joint activities within the Energy Charter framework.
Beside Iran, Iraq, Guatemala, and three international organizations namely G5 Sahel, the East African Community, and the Economic Community of Central African States signed the declaration document and therefore became observers to the Energy Charter.
With Iran joining the organization, the overall number of countries and organizations that are a member of the International Energy Charter extends to 80.

Exploring new regional energy markets for Iran 

During his visit to Tokyo, the Iranian minister also held talks with Rusnak on Saturday in which the two sides agreed to conduct joint studies to explore the expansion of regional energy markets in Iran and neighboring countries.
The results of the studies will be presented in the next International Energy Charter conference which is to be held in Turkmenistan in 2017.
During this meeting, Iran also expressed the readiness to host the future conferences which was welcomed by the Energy Charter’s secretariat and the necessary measures will be taken soon.
The two sides also appointed their representatives to follow up on the agreed matters.

EF/MA/MG