Brussels, 13/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - Last weekend in Moscow, G8 Finance Ministers said they would have to increase their efforts to give concrete expression to their calls for greater energy security, which Russia has made one of the priorities of its Presidency of the Group of 8 (the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy - the G7 - and Russia). The G7 countries have not, for the moment at least, succeeded in getting Moscow to ratify the Treaty on the Energy Charter. Under pressure, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin acknowledged that discussions had been “tense” and “stormy”, reflecting the different positions. “We spoke about the Energy Charter, but I'm not going to get into that at the moment,” Mr Kudrin told reporters, giving assurances that Russia's aim was to be “one of the most reliable (gas) suppliers”. Russia has still to ratify the Treaty on the Energy Charter to which 50 countries have already signed up, but which has not yet been signed by the United States and Canada. As the world's largest gas exporter, Russia supplies a quarter of the EU's needs, and the room for discussion offered by the Treaty would be useful in resolving new supply disputes. This question, which was raised by Moscow's partners, will feature on the agenda of subsequent G8 meetings under Russian Presidency, notably at the Saint Petersburg Summit in July (see EUROPE 9128). “The recent Ukrainian affair shows that the dialogue between Russia and the EU could function better,” said French Minister Thierry Breton at the meeting in Moscow, and he pointed out “the position of all of us is that there has to be better visibility and reliability of supply … transit and prices”. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown argued that dialogue should be opened between producer and consumer countries on the question of gas supplies, and not only on oil, as has hitherto been almost exclusively the case. “I think that from now on we should improve the dialogue with OPEC countries and other energy producers … (and) agree to include gas in this initiative,” he said.
The press release issued on 11 February after the meeting spoke of the energy question in very general terms, stressing the key role of market mechanisms to ensure the proper working of the world energy system. Ministers repeated their expectations on greater transparency on oil reserves, production and consumption and on increasing investment in exploration, production, transport and refining capacities.
The growth of the world economy was expected to be “solid” in 2006, despite the high level and volatility of oil prices, said the G8 press release. Economic activity could, however, suffer were there to be an avian flu pandemic, said the Ministers, who called for support for poor countries in their efforts to combat the virus (see related article). Since central bankers were not present, the question of exchange rates was not raised at the Moscow meeting. The press release re-affirmed that an ambitious outcome from the Doha discussions by 2006 was necessary to strengthen growth and reduce poverty.