Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 21
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Azerbaijan gave its agreement in principle to get the status of an observer in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), the press office of Energy Ministry told Trend Nov. 21.
"The GECF board has repeatedly offered Azerbaijan to join its work," said the ministry. "After lengthy negotiations, Azerbaijani side considered it appropriate to take part in the GECF with an observer status and gave its consent."
The ministry noted that the GECF's third gas summit will be held soon, and Azerbaijan will be represented there by Minister of Energy Natig Aliyev.
The press office however didn't elaborate on the date when the status will be given to the country.
The GECF counts for 42 percent of the world's gas production, owns 67 percent of the world's gas reserves, conducts 38 percent of global gas transfers, and 85 percent of the global LNG trade.
The forum is made up of 18 main and observer members.
Iran, Russia, Qatar, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Peru and the United Arab Emirates are the main members of the forum.
The Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Norway and Oman will also take part in the forum's summit as observer members.
The topic for this year's GECF summit is "Promoting Technologies for Sustainable Environmental Management".
The GECF was established in 2001 in Tehran and is a venue for a number of world's gas exporting countries to exchange information about concerned topics.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov