Baghdad - Saudi's King Abdullah invited heads of member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to a summit to take place November 17 and 18, local press said Wednesday. In its overnight bulletin, the state-owned Saudi news agency, citing Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, said that the third OPEC summit will be held in Riyadh.
Al-Naimi said that "embracing" this summit "confirms the Kingdom's keenness on the stability of international oil markets in a way that serves consumers, producers, oil industry, (and) international economy especially that of developing states."
The agenda of the summit will not only focus on energy resources and related issues but also environmental protection topics.
This is the third meeting at presidential level, rather than ministerial. The first was held in 1975 in Algeria and the second in 2000 in Venezuela.
Oil exporting countries who are members of OPEC are Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
