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Iran, Ecuador Sign Deal on Energy
The Iranian and Ecuador's officials in Tehran on Saturday evening singed an energy cooperation deal.
TEHRAN, Sept 14--OPEC members Iran and Ecuador have signed an energy cooperation deal, an Iranian news agency said on Sunday, the latest in growing ties between Tehran and leftist
South American governments.
The memorandum of understanding included a plan to build a refinery and a petrochemical unit in Ecuador , in cooperation with both Iran and Venezuela .
All three countries are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), source of more than a third of the world's oil.
Iran has sought to boost international support including in South America where it has courted Bolivia and Venezuela .
Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said: "An agreement was signed between Iran and
Ecuador on cooperation in the oil industry and showed the will of the two countries' presidents to increase cooperation in economy and politics."
Nozari, who was quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA, said the deal was signed late on Saturday.
The deal covered cooperation between Iran , Ecuador and Venezuela on building a refinery and a
petrochemical unit in Ecuador .
It also covered training of Ecuador 's oil industry employees by Iranian experts and cooperation in maintenance on Ecuadorian oil facilities.
"This is a political agreement which can help expand ties between the two countries. I hope this agreement is materialized and will not only remain on paper," Ecuadorian Oil Minister Galo
Chiriboga was quoted as saying.
He asked Iran 's oil minister to help form a joint company to help execute the agreement, IRNA reported.
Ecuador 's leftist President Rafael Correa has sought to boost state economic control but has steered away from energy nationalizations pursued by some South American states.
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