A file photo of oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
A file photo of oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

New Delhi: India has accepted Saudi Arabia’s request to host a ministerial session of the International Energy Forum (IEF), a group of 72 oil producing and consuming nations based in Riyadh, in 2018.

Saudi minister of energy, industry and natural resources Khalid A. Al-Falih proposed holding the ministerial meeting in India in a telephone call he made to oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the oil ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Pradhan invited the Saudi energy minister for discussing energy cooperation between the two nations and urged Saudi oil companies to invest in the Indian oil and gas sector, the statement said.