Al-Maliki meets Egyptian oil minister

BAGHDAD/ IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held a meeting with Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy, during which he stressed the importance of developing relations and cooperation in oil field, according to a statement of his office. “Al-Maliki received on Wednesday (Nov. 3) the Egyptian minister and his accompanying delegation,” said the statement received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “The meeting, attended by Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrestani and a number of oil ministry’s officials, tackled the importance of boosting relations between the two countries in various domains, including the economic field and the cooperation in oil sector,” the statement added. For his part, the Egyptian minister said that the visit is meant to activate a strategic agreement signed between both countries’ oil ministers in May 2009. Fahmy met also with the Iraqi oil minister. The Egyptian Ambassador in Baghdad Sherif Shahin attended the meeting. The meeting took up ways to give a boost to work in the field of natural gas and draw up programs to exchange natural gas between both states. The delegation visited the Basra-based permanent HQs of Enppi and PetroJet companies. SH (P)/SR 1