Saint Petersburg, Sept 24: Russia and the United States are to step up cooperation aimed at boosting US purchases of Russian oil and gas under terms of a statement signed by the two countries' energy chiefs at a two-day energy summit that closed here yesterday.
"We have agreed to continue enhancing cooperation between our two governements ... To establish a favourable energy investment climate based on the rule of law, contract sanctity, a stable legislative framework and transparent business practices," the officials said in a joint statement issued at the close of the summit.
The statement, signed by US Trade Secretary Donald Evans and Russian Economic Development Minister German Gref, said the two sides were "committed to the expansion of Russia's energy export capacity, both through improvement of Russia's existing capacity of pipeline infrastructure and through the implementation of new projects."
During the summit, US officials reaffirmed their support for the construction of a pipeline terminating at Murmansk, in Russia's far north, facilitating the delivery of Russian crude to the US market.

Speaking after the signing, Evans said of the Russian authorities that "the leadership of this country is serious about creating the environment favourable to the developpemnt of this industry -- a lot has been done, we've seen it in action since the last two years."



Nevertheless, "there's a lot more to be done," he told reporters.


Bureau Report