Ahmadinejad to leave for Doha Tuesday

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to leave for Qatar on Tuesday to attend a summit meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Doha.The announcement was made by the Presidential Office's Director for International Affairs, Mohammad Reza Forqani. Forqani also mentioned that Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi will accompany President Ahmadinejad during the daylong visit to Qatar. According to Forqani, President Ahmadinejad is slated to address the GECF's heads-of-state meeting and then attend bilateral talks with the senior officials to be participating in the high-profile gathering. President Ahmadinejad is also due to hold meetings with senior Qatari officials on the sidelines of the GECF summit in Doha, he added. Also earlier, Iran's Representative to the GECF and OPEC Mohammad Ali Khatibi had informed that President Ahmadinejad would address the energy summit. Khatibi also added that the meeting of the GECF heads of states in Doha was likely to focus "on gas prices in the market" as well as a "joint strategy" to further cooperation within the group. He gave no further details. The GECF last met in December 2010 in Doha, where its members expressed concern about low gas prices. Russia, Qatar, Libya, Egypt and Venezuela are also members of the GECF.