Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.26
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The Gas Exporters Countries Forum (GECF) has received expressions of interest from some observers, which want to become a full member, the organization told Trend.
“At this stage, we cannot provide specific names of countries that expressed their interest to join the GECF family, as this is a confidential process that is discussed in the GECF Ministerial meeting.
However, what we can mention is that we received some expressions of interest of some observers countries that want to become full members, as well as other countries that are willing to join the Forum either as full members or as observer members,” said GECF.
The organization said it is open to welcome any country producing or exporting natural gas that is willing to join the Forum, as per its Statues and Long Term Strategy.
“We are happy to welcome the Republic of Angola, one of the major producers of natural gas, as a member of GECF. The 20th GECF Ministerial meeting held in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, applauded the joining of Angola to the GECF family as our 5th African country,” said GECF.
Furthermore, GECF said it is conducting talks at official and unofficial levels with some states and governments.
“We remain optimistic for the growth of our GECF family, by having more members that will reinforce the position of the forum internationally,” said the organization.
As for Azerbaijan, GECF said it is already a Member Observer Country; and the organization is proud to see the role of GECF reinforced in gas pipeline exports, thanks to the Azerbaijani gas exports to Turkey through the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), inaugurated in June 2018.
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an international governmental organization which provides the framework for exchanging experience and information among Member Countries. 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. Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru have the status of Observer Members.
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