By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

 

The 7th Summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Algiers provided the Iranian President an excellent opportunity to visit the brotherly North African country of Algeria and hold talks with his host and counterparts of other member countries on vital issues, including energy and the holocaust in Gaza which the illegal Zionist entity has unleashed since last October 8 on the orders of its terrorist godfather, the US.

Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Ibrahim Raisi who was accorded a red carpet welcome by President Abdel-Majid Tebboune, on his maiden visit to what is known as the Arab Maghreb broke the 14-year drought of absence of any visit to Algeria by an Iranian Head of State for 14 long years.

Hassan Rouhani during the eight long years he was Iran’s Chief Executive (two 4-year terms) did not have time to visit the African continent at all.

Anyway, President Raisi was the cynosure of all eyes in Algeria whose people and government had supported Iran during the 8-year war the US had imposed in the 1980s through Saddam of Baghdad’s Ba’th minority regime.

Algeria, with a large coastline on the Mediterranean Sea and in a privileged position to keep eye on vessels entering this strategic waterway through the Strait of Gibraltar, is a firm supporter of the Palestinian people and has the potential to block Haifa and other Levantine ports under occupation of usurper Israel – similar to what the Ansrallah-led government of Yemen has admirably done in the Red Sea.

If the genocide in Gaza does not stop, then there is all likelihood of other countries rallying to the support of the persecuted Palestinian people with whatever means they possess, including the people of Algeria who offered over a million martyrs over six decades ago to achieve independence by driving out the French forces and hundreds of thousands of European settlers (like the Euro-American illegal migrants to Palestine), who had virtually annexed this Muslim country to France.

The Iranian President, in his address to the GECF Summit on Saturday, highlighted Iran’s huge reserves of natural gas, transit capacities and advanced technology, saying the Islamic Republic in view of its strategic geographical location, facilitates the regional countries’ access to this clean and valuable source of energy.

His remarks: “We are ready to become an energy hub as well as a safe route for the distribution and transit of gas between producers and consumption markets,” were applauded by the participants and the press.

The Algerian press also hailed Hojjat al-Islam Raisi’s condemnation of the carnage in Gaza with the support of the US and some West European regimes and his proposal of practical solutions to end the holocaust.

He pointed out that “the current war is the confrontation of the axis of evil against the axis of honour. On one side of the front, there is an army that is waiting for more and stronger weapons and bombs from the US, while on the other side of the front, there are children who miss a bite of bread. Those who remain silent today will be slapped hard tomorrow. Today, Palestine is the yardstick of humanity, morality and conscience of human society.”

Other prominent members of the Doha-headquartered GECF, besides host Algeria, include Qatar, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela.

GECF countries which together control over 71 percent of the world’s natural proven gas reserves, account for 44 percent of its marketed production, 53 percent of its pipelines, and 57 percent of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports across the globe.