Member Corner
The 3rd Workshop on GECF Data Reporting Mechanism was convened on October 2, 2013 at the headquarters of the Forum in Doha, Qatar. The Workshop was attended by the delegates from the GECF Member Countries.
In the welcome address, HE Leonid Bokhanovskiy, Secretary General of the GECF, noted the progress made so far in the series of workshops held as the result of the dedication and commitment of the Focal Points from GECF Member Countries, who have brought their wealth of experience and support to ensure the success of the Data Reporting Architecture and some of the key deliverables, such as the implementation of Annual Questionnaires; a key part of the Data Reporting Mechanism.
The purpose of the Data Reporting Mechanism, besides serving as a tool for information and data exchange between Member Countries, is to support the modeling, research, analysis and studies carried out in the Secretariat, as well as to contribute to the dialogue with consumers of energy by promoting transparency of the gas sector through opening to the public some of the important natural gas country specific data categories.
Since the Secretariat's inception in Doha, contacts were regularly maintained with other international organizations, most importantly to address the collaboration and to discuss the best practises and challenges on the road to establish data exchange between the international organizations.
A number of key issues were discussed in the workshop, including the status of the Data Reporting Mechanism, data Questionnaires, challenges, and the road map for its implementation. Finally, it was highlighted that the participants are to build on the milestones achieved and work to establish even greater cooperation and communication between the parties, something that constitutes one of the main objectives of the Forum as per the Statute and the Moscow Declaration of the 2nd Gas Summit.