GECF Meeting to Be Held in Moscow

The executive board meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) held in Doha discussed final arrangements for the 2nd Gas Summit to be held in Moscow on July 1.

They also discussed preparations for the extraordinary ministerial meeting to be held in the Russian capital on June 29.

The meetings in Doha were hosted by GECF secretary general Leonid Bokhanovskiy.

This 16th Meeting was conducted by the chairman of the executive board Mohammed Nasser al-Hajri representing Qatar, and the alternate chairman SMA Khatibi Tabatabaei (Iran).

Khatibi said Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum (GECF) has a bright future ahead.

He expressed hope GECF would be able to solve the problems of gas market through cooperation among the members, Iran’s SHANA news agency reported.

Khatibi further said that GECF is able to bring stability to gas market through a coordinated and collective action.

Heads of the forum held the first GECF summit two years ago and will hold the second one this year implying the member countries support the plans and goals of the forum at the highest level.

The meeting was attended by some 13 member countries namely, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the UAE and Venezuela, as well as observers Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and Norway.

The 2nd Gas Summit in Moscow 2013 comes two years after its first edition in Doha. It gives GECF the opportunity to strengthen co-operation among the member countries within the organization in accordance with its statute; to promote debate and exchange of views at the highest level on the gas market and the gas industry, and to project the GECF as a platform for dialogue in gas with consumers.

The Moscow summit will cover a number of issues including current developments of world gas markets; the situation of the gas industry in general and in the member countries in particular; the views of the member countries about their energy and gas policies as well as the energy and gas policies of consumers, and the current status and future of the GECF.