His Excellency the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi has reaffirmed Qatar’s commitment to cooperate with members states “to promote natural gas as a primary vehicle to achieve access to cleaner energy.”He was addressing the opening session of the 27th Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Doha today.Al-Kaabi who headed Qatar’s delegation to the Meeting said: “We must be clear in our opposition to trade barriers and discriminatory measures that disadvantage energy products, especially natural gas.”Al-Kaabi also affirmed that “despite geopolitical tensions and faltering climate policies, the outlook for natural gas - and particularly LNG - is positive. It is driven by economic growth in Asia, a growing desire for cleaner and more economic sources of energy, and booming power demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.”**media[372560]**The ministerial meeting tackled a number of issues of importance to the mission of the Forum particularly with regards to the role of natural gas in the ongoing energy transition.The Gas Exporting Countries Forum is a gathering of the world’s leading gas exporting countries. It aims to build a mechanism for a more meaningful dialogue between gas producers and consumers to ensure stability and security of supply and demand in global natural gas markets.