Russia has taken over the chairmanship of the G8 group of nations for the first time.

 

"I hope, - President Putin said - that the experience we have accumulated since joining the G8 will ensure respect for tradition and consolidation of our efforts". Russia, as the presiding country, regards it as its duty to give a fresh impetus to efforts to find solutions to key international problems in energy, education and healthcare.

 

This year, Russia plan to urge our partners to redouble efforts to ensure global energy security. "We believe that today, it is crucial to find a solution to a problem which directly influences the social and economic development of all countries, without exception" - Russian President said. "I am convinced that our efforts towards attaining this goal should be comprehensive and must stimulate stabilization of the global energy markets, development of innovation technologies, use of renewable energy sources and protection of the environment. We believe that today, we must think very seriously about ways to bridge the gap between energy-sufficient and energy-lacking countries".

 

Regarding the national oil and gas sector Russian President Vladimir Putin at a news conference at 31.01.2006, pointed to the number of quite large private oil companies such as LUKOIL, TNK BP, Surgutneftegaz and others and a great deal of them. He declared that no nationalisation will take place in our economy, unlike, say, in Norway or in some of the OPEC countries. The overwhelming majority of companies in Russian oil and gas sector are either absolutely private or have mixed capital, and we will continue to maintain this balance.