TEHRAN (Shana) -- The 23rd Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) started a few minutes ago via video conference.
The most important agenda of today's meeting (Tuesday, November 16) is the election of the fourth Secretary General of the forum. Russia's Yury Sentyurin is currently the secretary general of GECF.

Between April and May 2021, five countries, Iran, Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Libya and Nigeria, nominated their candidates for the seventh term of the Secretary General to the GECF Secretariat.

GECF has so far held six terms as for Secretary-General, including four two-year terms (8 years) for Russia and two two-year terms (four years) for Iran. Leonid Bukhanovsky (from Russia) was the first Secretary-General of the forum, Mohammad Hossein Adeli (from Iran) was the second, and Yury Sentyurin (from Russia) were three figures who held the post of Secretary-General for 12 years.

The Secretary-General shall be the principal of the Secretariat and the legal representative of the forum. In this capacity, the Secretary-General has the authority to perform managerial functions within the framework of the Governing Board's instructions and the GECF Statute, and is accountable to the Governing Board and the Ministerial Meeting.

GECF members account for 44% of world gas production, 67% of world gas reserves, 64% of pipeline gas transmission and 66% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade.

Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela are the 11 main GECIF members, with Malaysia, Norway, Iraq, Peru, Azerbaijan and the UAE as observer members of the forum.