France officially asks to join East Mediterranean Gas Forum

CAIRO – 16 January 2020: France officially requested membership in the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, and deputy assistant US secretary of energy expressed his country's desire to join as a permanent observer, according to Ministry of Petroleum.

This came during the third ministerial meeting of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum hosted by Cairo on Thursday.

For his part, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek el-Molla welcomed France's participation in the meeting and formally supported France's request to join the forum as a member and the United States to join as a permanent observer.

The forum was attended by the Cypriot minister of energy, trade and industry; the Greek minister of environment and energy; the Israeli minister of energy; the under-secretary of the ministry of economic development in Italy; the advisor to the Palestinian president for economic affairs; and the representative of the Jordanian Ministry of Energy.

The Forum was also attended by the deputy assistant US secretary of energy, head of the strategic sectors for Europe and foreign affairs at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the European Union ambassador to Cairo and a representative of the World Bank.