Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the Gas Exporting Countries Forum which will be held on November 23 in Tehran, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on Friday.
Putin will probably meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the forum, Ushakov speculated, TASS reported.
“We are preparing for participation in the third summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum on November 23 in Tehran and our president will obviously go there,” the Kremlin’s representative said.
A meeting with the summit host is expected as usual and contacts with other leaders of attending nations are possible, he said. Putin’s visit to Tehran is planned for one day, Ushakov added. He last visited Iran in 2007.
The GECF, established in Tehran in 2001, is an intergovernmental organization of 11 of the world’s leading natural gas producers, namely Iran, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. GECF members together control over 70% of the world’s natural gas reserves, 38% of the pipeline trade and 85% of the liquefied natural gas production.
The three largest reserve-holders in the GECF—Iran, Russia and Qatar—together hold about 57% of global gas reserves.
