Zamaninia appointed as Iran's new OPEC governor

TEHRAN - Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs and Trading Amir-Hossein Zamaninia was officially appointed on Saturday as Iran’s OPEC governor, replacing Hossein Kazempour Ardebili who died in mid-May.
The decision was made during the 179th meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) conference which was held on Saturday via video conference, Shana reported.
Zamaninia was named Iran’s ad-hoc OPEC governor back in May following Kazempour decease.
Iran’s former governor to OPEC passed away on May 16 after suffering a brain hemorrhage and falling into a coma. Kazempour Ardebili, 68, died at a hospital in capital Tehran.
He was appointed as Iran’s representative to OPEC – the oil organization that accounts for about a third of world supply – in 1995 and served for 13 years.
Kazempour Ardebili once again became Iran’s governor to OPEC in 2013 and had held the post until he passed away.
In the early 1990s, Kazempour Ardebili had been Iran’s ambassador to Japan. He also served as the country's deputy foreign minister and deputy oil minister in the 1980s.
“Nearly 23 years of close cooperation with Hossein Kazempour Ardebili placed me in a position where I can testify that he was a religious, educated, humble and very honorable man as well as a true and unassuming servant of the Iranian nation, who was loyal to the Islamic Republic and loved Iran, and its pride and progress was his constant concern,” Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said after the death of Kazempour Ardebili.
"He was a prominent diplomat who intelligently and vigorously defended our national interests at OPEC for more than three decades in the most difficult circumstances despite all troubles,” he added.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also described Kazempor Ardebili as “a prominent and unique diplomat,” adding that his passing is “a great loss for the diplomatic community.”
Over the past four decades, Zarif said, Kazempour Ardebili had always been “a clever and strong defender of national interests and a trustworthy, precise and candid advisor to the Islamic Republic's officials.”
EF/MA