Putin says G8 leaders agree to promote energy security
Today, Azerbaijan
July 17 2006
17 July 2006 [20:40] – Today.Az
The Group of Eight (G8) leaders agreed on joint efforts to ensure
global energy security at their summit held on July 15-17, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said at a news conference following the
summit.
"Our strategy is based on a common understanding of the fact that
humankind has a common energy future," Putin said. "A future for
which we all share responsibility."
The G8 has agreed on joint efforts to make energy infrastructure
more reliable, to diversify the production and supplies of energy
resources, to increase energy efficiency and to develop alternative
energy sources, he said.
Putin said Monday in his statement on the summit’s results that G8
leaders had agreed to reduce barriers to energy investment, making
it possible for energy producers and consumers to acquire upstream
and downstream energy assets in other countries.
Earlier this year Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom unveiled
ambitious plans to acquire energy companies in Europe and swapped
some of its assets for ones owned by German companies BASF and E.ON,
triggering Europeans’ concerns about their dependence on Russian
energy. For its part, the European Union has sought to get access
to Russian pipelines and oil and gas deposits, while Russia has been
reluctant to provide it.
The group has also emphasized nuclear energy’s contribution to global
energy security, Putin said.
The G8 has also decided to cooperate in the promotion of education
to meet the challenges of a modern knowledge-based economy, Putin said.
Additionally, the group has announced that it will seek to fight
infectious diseases, including avian flu, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria
and polio, he said.
The G8 leaders have said that they would seek to complete the Doha
Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, which is mostly
focused on the reduction of agricultural subsidies, by the end of
this year. Other issues in the Doha Round include combating piracy and
counterfeiting, fighting corruption and promoting poverty alleviation
and peacekeeping programs in Africa.
The countries of the G8 have also agreed to fight the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and in particular agreed to submit
the issue of Iran’s nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council
and urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and stop
missile launches, Putin said.
In general the summit was uneventful in terms of major policy
announcements and was to a large extent focused on growing violence
in the Middle East and failed to deliver a long-awaited agreement
between the U.S. and Russia on the latter’s accession to the World
Trade Organization.
The G8 has announced their intention to combat terrorism and
its threats including nuclear terrorism, increase cooperation in
post-conflict stabilization, prevent violations of arms embargoes, put
an end to Israel’s current conflict with Lebanon and the Palestinian
National Authority, find a compromise between Serbia and Kosovo on
the issue of Kosovo’s independence and stabilize the situation in
Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan’s Darfur region and Azerbaijan’s breakaway
republic of Nagorno Karabakh.
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