The decision was made during the 16th ministerial meeting of the GECF in the Qatari capital city of Doha in mid-December.
The GECF was founded in 2001 in the Iranian capital Tehran, and its member states control over 70 percent of the world`s natural gas reserves as well as more than 80 percent of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production.
The forum is a multi-layered and an intergovernmental organization of the world`s leading natural gas producers comprising Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, Peru and Venezuela.
Kazakhstan, Iraq, the Netherlands and Norway have the status of observer members.
The first GECF summit meeting was held in Doha on November 15, 2011.
The legal establishment of the forum took place on December 2008 in Moscow, where energy ministers of member states adopted the forum`s charter and signed an intergovernmental agreement.
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