Algiers: Algeria will host the seventh summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) on Saturday, which will wrap up with a leaders’ declaration addressing challenges in the natural gas sector.

The forum’s seventh edition was preceded by an extraordinary meeting of GECF energy ministers on Friday, who drew up the draft version of the leaders’ declaration.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to attend the Algiers summit, which will be the first visit to the North African country by a sitting Iranian leader in nearly 14 years. He will address the forum on Saturday and meet with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune the following day to sign several bilateral pacts.

The GECF is an intergovernmental organisation that brings together the world’s leading gas producers and exporters and provides a framework for the exchange of views, experiences, data, cooperation, and collaboration among its member states on gas-related issues. The forum currently includes 12 countries—Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela—and seven observer states, such as Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Malaysia, Mozambique, Norway, and Peru.