East Mediterranean Gas Forum - EMGF

Throughout history, the East Mediterranean Region has played a prominent role helping shape our modern world today. Located at the crossroads of three continents -Africa, Asia and Europe– has made it essential for trade and key to culture for millennia. Over the last decade, many significant gas discoveries have been made in the Eastern Mediterranean. Recognizing the vast resource prospects, opportunities and challenges, it was clear that the full potential of the Eastern Mediterranean gas basin can only be unlocked if suppliers, buyers and transit countries in the East Med region cooperate on developing an infrastructure for gas trade within the region and with external markets. This outline was the base underpinning the establishment of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum “EMGF” as a platform for Gas producer, consumer and transit countries. In 2018, Egypt introduced an Initiative to establish the East Mediterranean Gas Forum as a platform for structured policy dialogue on natural gas, leading to the development of a sustainable regional gas market that could unlock the full gas resource potential in the East Mediterranean region. During the tripartite summit held in October 2018 in Crete, Leaders of Egypt, Cyprus and Greece declared their intentions to establish the Forum, accordingly, further coordination with regional parties and international organizations took place. The Egyptian initiative was welcomed and sincerely adopted by the rest of the Founding Members; Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan and Palestine (together with Egypt) as an initiative that sets the base for a structured policy dialogue leading to the development of a regional gas market to unlock the full gas resource potential and to set the stage for multilateral and full hub trade. In 2021, France joined the EMGF as a Member Country, the United States of America, the European Union and the World Bank joined the Forum as observers.