The 8th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) was held on Tuesday in Moscow. Russian President Putin led the plenary session, which was also attended by the President of Equatorial Guinea, the President of Iran, the Emir of Qatar, the Prime Minister of Algeria, Chair of the Presidential Council of Libya, the President of Mozambique, and other high-level delegates from Egypt, Nigeria, the UAE, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Angola, Malaysia, Senegal, Iraq, Peru, Turkmenistan, and South Africa.

Thematic in both Putin’s address to the session and the Moscow Declaration adopted at the end of the meeting, were issues of sovereignty, of mutual benefit, and of cooperation to ensure long-term stability of global gas supplies, even in the midst of instability in Southwest Asia and beyond.

Putin pointed out that the Forum’s participants account for 70% of the world’s natural gas reserves and 40% of global exports. He noted that, due to the destabilization in the world, the global gas industry is in a state of uncertainty, which has had a huge disruptive effect on the global economy. He pointed out that many investment plans have been put on hold, deferred, or abandoned. Putin also noted the challenging effects of sanctions on the Russian gas industry, but that Europe’s decision to abandon Russian gas has caused much greater damage to those who made that decision: “Be careful how deep you dig a pit: you might be the one to fall in it. This is what’s happening in the EU today.”

“We must rely on our own capabilities and sovereign technologies and develop open, trust-based cooperation founded on mutual benefit and respect for each other’s interests,” said Putin. He outlined three broad priorities: 1) address the disruption of gas supplies; 2) increase supplies by expanding and modernizing production, new shipping fleets, and infrastructure for transport; and 3) strengthen technological cooperation: We must “establish close partnerships that bring mutual benefits to all participants,” he said.

Following the meeting, Putin held bilateral talks with several of the other heads of state, including President Pezeshkian of Iran, who stressed in remarks following their meeting, “A multipolar world is beneficial to us all, and this, naturally, gives us the opportunity to interact with you and with other countries that wish to remain independent and free.

“I believe that we can work on all the problems we have in the region and that we are capable of resolving all our problems and all regional issues without the United States. There is no need to rely on American assistance in the region, especially for those countries in our region that think otherwise. Indeed, that is simply not the case. We can help each other in the scientific, economic, cultural, humanitarian and security spheres.”