Speaking at the forum’s eighth summit in Moscow on Tuesday,
Pezeshkian said member countries should deepen cooperation in two areas:
strategic governance and management, and technical and engineering operations.
He said geopolitical developments had created serious
challenges for global energy security, adding that military attacks on Iran’s
energy facilities and disruptions to energy transfers threatened both energy
security and the global economy.
Pezeshkian also criticized unilateral sanctions and what he
described as US economic coercion against Iran, warning that such measures
could further undermine stability in energy markets. He called on major energy
suppliers to oppose these actions and respond effectively.
Military interventions in the Persian Gulf region, he said,
were affecting more than regional actors by disrupting energy pricing, supply
and transportation, with potential consequences for global economic growth.
Pezeshkian said the GECF had developed into a platform for
gas diplomacy, dialogue and the exchange of experience among member countries
over more than two decades. The forum could play a meaningful role in
addressing global energy challenges, he added.
He urged members to advance the GECF’s founding principles
and summit declarations, particularly through sustainable environmental
management technologies, expansion of regional and global gas markets, greater
value creation from natural gas and efforts to tackle energy poverty.
On strategic cooperation, Pezeshkian said the priority
should be stabilizing markets and finding ways to increase natural gas trade.
Technical cooperation should focus on joint investment across the gas value
chain, from production and processing to transportation and consumption,
alongside technologies that improve efficiency and reduce environmental
impacts.
He said the forum needed to turn member countries’ existing
capabilities into practical projects and shared benefits, while implementing
its long-term strategy in line with changing market conditions and future
supply-and-demand trends.
Pezeshkian said Iran, a founding GECF member and the world’s
second-largest holder of proven natural gas reserves, was ready to play a more
active role in multilateral gas diplomacy, knowledge-sharing and investment in
gas infrastructure.
Iran’s strategic position along major global energy
corridors and its existing gas industry capabilities could contribute to
strengthening global energy resilience, he said. He also pointed to
opportunities for private-sector cooperation among member countries in upstream
and downstream gas operations and gas trading.
The president invited foreign investors to take advantage of
incentives and facilities available in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical
sectors, saying the country could offer opportunities for cooperation based on
mutual interests.
He said natural gas accounts for around 70% of Iran’s energy
mix and that about 95% of the country’s population is covered by the national
gas network.
Pezeshkian added that constructive cooperation among member
countries and observers, including energy ministers, the GECF secretary-general
and the forum’s secretariat, was important to improving supply-and-demand
security, ensuring fair valuation of natural gas and strengthening its role in
the global energy mix while accounting for environmental considerations.
The GECF has 12 full members, which together account for
about 70% of the world’s proven natural gas reserves, 38% of marketed gas
production and 42% of global gas exports. They also represent an estimated 47%
of global liquefied natural gas exports, according to the report.