OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem Al-Badri expressed optimism that a political solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program could soon be reached, IRNA reported.
Al-Badri voiced hope in an interview with the website of the Berlin-based German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) that an agreement on the Iranian nuclear dispute could be made soon.
He stressed the Middle East had presently more than enough conflicts to deal with and therfore the Iranian nuclear impasse had to be resolved as soon as possible.
Al-Badri was in Berlin on Friday where he addressed the German Council on Foreign Relations on OPEC's views on the global energy scene, according to IRNA.
Stressing that there was no shortage on the global market, al-Badri predicted global energy demand would increase by more than 50 percent by 2035. The OPEC secretary general said the current uncertain economic situation in the world remained a challenge to his Vienna-based organization.
He cited the economic crisis in Europe and US as well as the slowdown in China's economic growth and speculations on the energy markets as some of OPEC's major concerns.
Badri lamented the fact that speculations on the financial markets had driven energy prices up.
Pointing to investments of OPEC states in energy projects, Badri said some 280 billion US dollars are to be invested in such projects over the next five years.