ALGIERS, Feb 17 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Energy officials from African Union states wrapped up a three-day meeting on energy cooperation on Sunday by creating a common body, the African Energy Commission (AFREC).

OPEC countries Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria were among the founders of AFREC, which would be the energy arm of the African Union, participants said.

African states have attempted to set up a joint energy body for more than three decades but efforts were spurred by the continent's increasing share of global oil production, they said.

"AFREC is a framework of cooperation and coordination but it is also a framework of action for Africans in the energy sector," Algeria's energy minister, Chakib Khelil, who is also the current OPEC president, told reporters.

AFREC is aimed as fostering cooperation within the African Union as well as between individual states at regional and bilateral levels, participants said.

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