The number of the heads of state who will attend the third summit meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) may increase, as Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev announced that he will attend the event.

Aliyev besides the president of Turkmenistan will attend as some guests in the meeting, which will be held in Tehran on November 23, the Shana News Agency reported. 

Participation of the presidents of Bolivia, Russia, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Iraq as well as the prime minister of Algeria in the third GECF meeting has been already confirmed, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Wednesday. 

Therefore, taking Iran’s president into account, the third summit will host the highest ever number of heads of state, the minister highlighted.

The second meeting in Russia was attended by six heads of state and the first meeting in Qatar was participated by four heads of state, he added.

The 4th meeting of the high level group and also the 24th meeting of the executive board for preparation of the third GECF summit were held yesterday in Tehran.

Also, the 17th ordinary ministerial meeting of the member states and an extraordinary ministerial meeting will be held today in Tehran. Nigerian Minister for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu will chair the ordinary meeting and Zanganeh will chair the extraordinary one.

GECF member states account for nearly 70 percent of the world’s gas reserves, 45 percent of the global gas output, about 85 percent of LNG production, and nearly 40 percent of pipeline trade, according to Zanganeh.

GECF is a gathering of the world’s leading gas producers and was set up as international governmental organization with the objective to increase the level of coordination and strengthen the collaboration among member countries. 

The member countries of the forum are Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru have the status of observer members.

MA/