Iran's deputy petroleum minister and chairman of its National Petrochemical Company Abdolhossein Bayat on Sunday called for the establishment of an international petrochemical association.
Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the 9th Iran Petrochemical Forum, Bayat said that though such an association would not precisely be a petrochemical OPEC, its "objectives would be similar to OPEC."
GPCA HAS NOT MET IRAN'S OBJECTIVES
The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, or GPCA, an association of the Persian Gulf-based petrochemicals association formed almost six years ago has not met Iran's objectives, Bayat said.
"The GPCA is not very active. We want true cooperation and negotiation in an international association. We want to rotate the place for the headquarters of such a forum. We want it to have subsidiary centres," Bayat said.
GPCA earlier clarified that it would not represent Iran.
At the GPCA's annual forum held in Dubai in December last year, top GPCA officials had said that they were not going to help Iranian members of the association tackle the international sanctions imposed on them.
Iran has found its foreign trade volumes restricted because of international sanctions spearheaded by the US that were imposed on the country in the wake of its nuclear program. The grip of the sanctions was further tightened in June the last year, when US President Barack Obama signed a law that restricted Iranian companies from dealing abroad.
