G8 finance ministers were meeting in St. Petersburg yesterday to discuss steering the global economy past multiple threats of high energy costs, rising interest rates and a weak US dollar.
Finance chiefs from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US were to gather in Saint Petersburg for dinner yesterday and more meetings today.
The talks also presented a chance for putting final touches to preparations for the G8 summit being hosted in Russia's former imperial capital by President Vladimir Putin in five weeks' time.
Energy supply worries were expected to dominate, with other main focuses being rising central bank interest rates and the weak US currency, which analysts say threaten to choke currently healthy global economic growth.
The European Central Bank tightened the monetary screws further on Thursday and flagged the possibility of further rate rises in a bid to dampen inflation in the 12-country eurozone.
Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin underlined the need to discuss energy supplies at a time of record oil prices of more than US$70 a barrel.
Russia is the world's second-biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia and the leading source of natural gas, a status giving Moscow renewed economic and political clout and helping to answer claims that the country's relatively undeveloped economy does not merit G8 membership.
Because Russia chairs the elite club this year and is hosting the summit, there will not be the traditional discussion between central bank chiefs from the other seven countries -- a session at which Russia is not invited.
The energy driven rise of Russia's economy has also set off alarm bells among some in the West, where Moscow's increasingly assertive foreign policy stance is viewed with unease.
The EU is particularly nervous because it already buys 26 percent of its natural gas supplies from Russia and is worried about dependence on what critics describe as an unpredictable partner.
Such fears increased dramatically in January when the Russian state-run giant Gazprom abruptly cut off gas supplies to Ukraine over a price dispute.
The International Energy Agency issued a report on Thursday predicting ever growing dependency in the US and EU on imported natural gas, with Russia and the Middle East the main sources. The report echoed Western concerns that "both suppliers and consumers will greatly benefit from increased transparency in the Russian gas sector."
Negotiations on creating a framework for EU-Russian energy relations continue against this tense background.
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