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The leaders of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) are scheduled to convene in Tehran on November 23, IRNA news agency reported June 23.

The GECF has 18 permanent and observing members and its permanent headquarters is in Doha, Qatar.

Iran, Russia, Qatar, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Peru, the United Arabic Emirates and Oman are the permanent members.

The Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iraq and Norway are observing members.

Iran has also invited the UAE to the summit.

The GECF members have in possession 42 percent of the world’s gas production, 70 of its gas reserves, 40 percent of the world’s gas transfer through pipelines, and 65 percent of the world trade in LNG.

The Iranian Mohammad Hossein Adeli was appointed last year as the forum’s secretary general. He makes the forum’s second secretary general.

Adeli is the first Iranian figure in 50 years to become the top person of an important international economic organization.

Since the formation of the forum, many have expected it to act as a gas OPEC. But Adeli has rejected such expectations.

Since it was launched, GECF was called a forum not to be mixed with OPEC, which is a cartel, Adeli said.

The GECF does not seek to control the price of its product as OPEC does, but it is a place to explore the global market and share information and expertise among the members, he said.

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