SCO, BRIC summits to focus on global financial crisis: Russian analysts

MOSCOW, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The summits of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China)
scheduled for next month in Russia will provide the participants with a platform
to discuss measures to tackle the global financial crisis, Russian analysts said
on Wednesday.

The SCO member states should further enhance coordination in working out
policies and measures amid the global economic downturn, Mihail Delyagin,
director of the Russian Institute for Globalization Problems, told Xinhua.

Russia, among other countries, proposed the creation of new international
reserve currencies during the G20 summit in London in early April, Delyagin
said.

The sides could discuss the proposal within a bilateral or multilateral
framework at the upcoming summit, which will also be conducive to preparation
for the next G20 summit, said the expert.

Discussion about the merits and flaws of the measures adopted to deal with
the financial crisis should be given priority at the BRIC summit, said Igor
Nikolayev, director of FBK Strategic Analysis Department.

The BRIC countries have many topics to talk about against the trend towards
world multipolarizaiton, Nikolayev said.

Special Report:
Global Financial
Crisis

Iran says GECF to form executive committee

TEHRAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran's OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said here Saturday the newly-found Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) will soon form an executive committee, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

"The high level committee of the forum has also issued its articles of association which was initially proposed by Iran," said Khatibi.

Founded in Tehran in 2001, the now 15-member GECF groups Russia, Iran, Qatar and other leading gas producers, which account for some 77 percent of the world's gas reserves and 48 percent of production.

The member states of GECF group include Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Venezuela, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago.

The forum's role was strengthened this year as Russia, the world's largest gas producer, intensified its efforts to tap energy globally and revealed its increasing interest on the potential price-control structure similar to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) while denying it will be a gas cartel.

In October last year, representatives from Russia, Iran and Qatar, which in total account for 56 percent of world's natural gas reserves, met in Tehran and agreed to establish a "gas troika" for joint exploration and production, raising the curtain over the loose group's further development.

As stipulated in the charter, an executive office and a Doha-based secretariat of the organization will be established, with a secretary general to be elected during the next forum.