Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov.26/ Trend G.Mehdi/
Iran has been named the new chairing country of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) and will host the GECF ministerial meeting in 2013, the Mehr News Agency reported.
The GECF member states in their 14th ministerial meeting in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, named Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi as the chairman of the upcoming GECF ministerial meeting in Tehran scheduled for November 2013.
Also during the ministerial meeting in Malabo, delegates from the 12 member states as well as Holland, as an observer, discussed ways of expanding activities in the global gas market.
Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela are the eleven members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
The gas cartel is still officially known as the Gas Forum, but major exporters Iran and Russia last year started a move to change the body into an OPEC like organization called the Organization of Gas Exporting Countries (OGEC).
Iran, Russia, Qatar, Venezuela and Algeria are among the GECF's member states which possess 42% of the world's gas reserves.