Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi left Tehran for the Qatari capital on Monday morning to attend a summit of heads of states of Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Ezzatollah Zarghami, and Minister of Road and Urban Development Rostam Qassemi are accompanying the president in his visit to Doha.
Speaking to reporters just before departure for Qatar, Raeisi told reporters that the visit is being made upon an invitation by Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The president noted that one of the main objectives of the visit is to expand ties with neighboring Qatar.
In line with activating regional diplomacy, especially with the Persian Gulf countries, this visit is a step towards enabling communications between these countries and leveraging their capacities in expanding political and economic ties especially with Qatar with which Iran has joint gas fields, he said.
We have considerable cooperation in energy field, Raeisi said, adding that Iran and Qatar can also take fundamental steps to elevate cooperation in broader economy.
He described cooperation with GECF as an important issue and said that the forum was formed on the initiative of Iran which is a founding member.
Iran is among the world’s three largest gas exporters along with Russia and Qatar, Raeisi highlighted.
Minister of Road and Urban Development Rostam Qassemi, who is one of the minister accompanying President Raeisi in the visit to Doha had said earlier that his visit to Qatar will focus on negotiations to launch regular shipping lines between port cities of the two countries and an agreement to allow Qatar Airways better access to Iran’s airspace.