August 4, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 24,1423

TOKYO, Aug 3: Japan plans to host an annual general meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in its second main city of Osaka on September 19, a press report said on Saturday.

Opec has requested the Japanese government to host the meeting in Osaka, the commercial centre in western Japan, in mid-September when an international energy forum is also held there with senior officials from 69 countries taking part.

Through consultation with the Opec secretariat, the government has laid out plans to accept the request, the Japan Broadcasting Corp. network reported.

It will be the first Opec general meeting to be held in Japan, a major industrial power which almost totally relies on imports for its oil needs.

The annual Opec meeting is expected to focus on whether it would end restraint on crude oil production as crude prices remain stable this year, the report said.

The oil exporting cartel Opec will hold its next policy review meeting in the western Japanese city of Osaka in September, Japanese media said on Saturday.

Arrangements are being made to hold the meeting around September 19, NHK national television reported.

Officials were not immediately available for confirmation.

Opec had originally planned to meet on September 18 in Vienna, but ministers have to be in Osaka, 408 km (255 miles) west of Tokyo, on September 20 to 23 for a conference of oil producing and consuming countries.

Some Opec officials have said the cartel may agree an output rise in September if demand takes off as expected in the second half of the year.

—AFP/Reuters