The Ministry of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation and the IEA renew their Memorandum of Understanding

The Minister of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation, Mr. Viktor Khristenko, and the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Mr. Claude Mandil met today to discuss ongoing energy policy co-operation between Russia and the IEA.

The meeting continued the tradition begun in 1994 of dialogue between Russia and the IEA on a broad range of energy policy issues. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for four more years reconfirmed the interest of the IEA and the Russian Ministry of Industry and Energy to further strengthen their co-operation on energy policy, regulation, statistics, efficiency and technology.

“Russia has a long history of co-operation with the IEA. I believe that our objective now is to strengthen and deepen our relationship,” said Mr. Khristenko.

Mr. Mandil said, “Our joint work over the years has aimed at increasing transparency of energy markets, improving global energy security and addressing the environmental impact of energy production and use. We look forward to continuing our joint efforts towards a more sustainable energy future.”

Given the emphasis on energy efficiency by the Group of Eight summits of Gleneagles in 2005 and Saint Petersburg in 2006 and the next Heiligendamm Summit of 2007, and the strong IEA involvement in the G8 process, both parties agreed that this topic would be the first priority of their co-operation.

Mr. Khristenko and Mr. Mandil agreed to review priorities throughout the period of the MoU and possibly include new areas of co-operation unforeseen at this time. Both parties expressed interest in working to intensify co-operation and to build increasingly closer links between Russia and the IEA in the future.