The host country, as Chair-in-Office, assumes responsibility for the preparatory process and the implementation of each Forum meeting. The host government chairs all sessions related to Forum preparations and chairs the Forum meeting.

The Chair-in-Office is assisted by a Co-Chair - the country that organized the previous Forum meeting.

Once a further country has announced its intention to host a next meeting of the Forum, the three countries concerned will form a Troika that includes the outgoing Chair, the Chair-in-Office, and the forthcoming Chair of the Forum. The Troika shall assist the Chair-in-Office.

The Chair-in-Office should, in principle, alternate annually between a developing and a developed country.

Presently, the troika consists of Belgium, the Philippines, and Greece. Greece has officially announced its intent to host the Third Meeting of the GFMD in Athens in 2009 on the occasion of the First Meeting of the Friends of the Forum in Geneva on 17 December 2007.