Minister of Petroleum Seyed Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh noted that in view of various aspects of energy security, it depends on security of supply, demand, investment, information and technology and energy security could only be guaranteed by major producer and consumer countries.

Speaking to reporters on the outcomes of the second meeting of Asian ministers of oil and energy and Islamic Republic of Iran’s positions, the minister added, “Iran announced that energy security hinges on two-way interaction between consumers and producers.”

“Just in the same way that security of energy supply is important to consumer countries, security of energy demand is also important to producing countries that seek more investment for increasing their output,” he added.

Vaziri Hamaneh noted that Iran has also announced in the meeting that oil and gas industry is based on peace and countries should not allow political issues to affect the industry.

Referring to other topics discussed in the second meeting of Asian ministers of oil and energy, Iranian minister of petroleum stated that during the meeting all countries emphasized on the importance of Asia in global economy and energy market, especially with regard to oil and gas.

“In view of the increasing growth of world energy demand in the coming decades, countries with rich energy resources can supply Asia and the world with enough energy,” he noted.

The minister said during the meeting emphasis was also put on bilateral, multilateral, regional and international cooperation between exporting and importing countries, importance of higher productivity in energy exporting and importing countries, importance of all-out investment in various energy sectors in different countries, as well as establishment of a competitive and transparent oil and gas market and expansion of international trade of energy products and services and assuring security of the main transport routes for energy carriers.

Oil minister stated that protecting energy markets against political matters was another focus of Riyadh conference, adding “Supporting technological solutions to solve problems faced by oil industry, especially issues related to environment and climate change were other topics of the conference.”

The second conference of oil and energy ministers of Asian countries was held in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh attended by 17 producer and consumer countries on May 2.

Japan will host the next conference. Riyadh conference was attended by energy ministers of Iran, China, India, Japan, Iraq, South Korea, Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, and Saudi Arabia.

The first conference on energy cooperation among Asian countries was held in India in 2005.

Oil and energy ministers of Asian countries meet within framework of International Energy Forum (IEF), which is based in Riyadh and holds biennial meetings of oil and energy ministers of consumer and producer countries.