Spanish:
 
|
G8 leaders to discuss energy security in Russia
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com 04 25 06Leaders of G8 member countries are to make a commitment to energy security at a meeting in Russia in July, the deputy prime minister of Russia said on Monday, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
"We hope to agree upon an energy security policy that will guarantee supplies of all possible kinds of energy resources at affordable prices and with minimal environmental damage," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on the sidelines of the Hanover international industrial fair in Germany, Interfax reported.
The statement will formulate common goals and offer a concrete mechanism for achieving them, he said.
"Attention will primarily be paid to ensuring the transparency and predictability of international energy markets, developing energy-saving technologies and energy efficiency programs in all areas of the global economy," he said.
He added that bolstering the security of the world's energy infrastructure, diversifying energy supplies, and broadening the application of alternative energy resources would also be contained in the document.
Russia, which is hosting the Group of Eight summit in Saint Petersburg, has been at the heart of concerns about energy security in recent months.
State-controlled gas giant Gazprom cut gas deliveries to Ukraine in January amid a dispute about pricing. The decision to cut supplies to Ukraine had knock-on effects in western Europe, where gas deliveries to a number of countries also fell.
Moreover, Gazprom made a veiled threat to the European Commission last week, warning the EU against "politicizing" gas supply issues and threatening to sell fuel elsewhere if its commercial ambitions in the European market were unfairly restricted.
The Group of Eight forum is to group the leaders of the eight richest countries, namely Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
AFP 04 24 06 1938 GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels