OREANDA-NEWS. Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia will meet on 8 April in Quito to discuss an initiative to freeze oil production as a way to boost prices, the Ecuadorean government says.

Ecuador, a small member of Opec, has been lobbying fellow oil producers in the region in an effort to forge a coordinated approach ahead of a broader producers? meeting in Doha on 17 April.

Mexico will not participate in this week?s meeting, according to Ecuador?s president Rafael Correa, who cited difficulties in coordinating with the government there. Brazil, an important non-Opec supplier, is not part of Ecuador?s regional lobbying effort.

The region?s oil exporters have lost substantial revenue since oil prices collapsed in mid-2014. But a coordinated stance among Latin American crude exporters would have little practical impact, as regional production is flat or declining.

"We must talk and discuss a solution, a proposal to stabilize the market. Ecuador remains optimistic that we can achieve an agreement that will drive us to a price level profitable for everybody. No country, large or small, is prepared to endure current oil prices," Ecuador?s oil minister Carlos Pareja says.

Venezuelan and Colombian officials have not immediately replied to requests for comment on the upcoming meeting in Quito.