GECF summit likely to be held in Doha - minister
ALGIERS. Oct 6 (Interfax) - The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) which will see the world's leading gas producers gather, including Russia, will most likely be held in Qatar, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said.
"With a very high degree of probability a decision will be made to hold it in the capital of Qatar, Doha," he told journalists on Wednesday.
He said the decision should be made collectively and the leaders of GECF countries will have the final say.
GECF was established in 2001 and unites Iran, Algeria, Brunei, Bolivia, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Russia, Nigeria, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and Equatorial Guinea. Norway, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan hold observer status with no voting rights.
The forum was recently restructured after it approved the charter naming its aims and tasks.
Russia's Leonid Bokhanovsky was elected the secretary general of the forum at a meeting of GECF members in Doha in December 2009.