Iran elected to lead GECF

Iran's envoy to the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) was chosen here on Sunday to lead the bloc. Mohammad Hossein Adeli, the former governor of the Central Bank of Iran, was elected as the president of the GECF for a two-year period. In a speech after his election, Adeli said he will work to turn the body into a major player in the global gas market although it is facing many challenges. Under the sanction pressures against its energy industry, Iran has suffered loss by the incessant delays in developing its natural gas resources in the southern country. Although Iran is in possession of the second-biggest gas reserves in the world after Russia, it exports insignificant amount of its products to its northern neighbors, including Turkey and Armenia. Most of Iran's gas products are consumed domestically. The GECF is a gathering of the world's leading gas producers and has been set up as an international governmental organization with the objective to increase the level of collaboration among member states. The member countries of the Forum are: Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Kazakhstan, Iraq, the Netherlands and Norway have the status of Observer Members.