Energy

EU, Russia optimistic about new energy deal

The European Union and Russia said Friday they would discuss all aspects of energy cooperation — including access to energy markets — during negotiations on broader political and economic ties.

But neither side committed to a deadline for a new cooperation deal that would replace the existing 1997 agreement, which is now outdated given Russia's oil and gas wealth and more assertive foreign policy stance.

Russia is Europe's key oil and gas supplier.

"There is nothing more harmful for any negotiating process than a deadline," Russian ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizov told journalists after the first round of talks, which set the agenda and timetable for the next few months.

EU negotiator Eneko Landaburu said the political will to reach a deal was "strengthening."

The EU wants Moscow to open its vast energy sector — dominated by the energy giant Gazprom — to European investors. Moscow, in turn, wants its companies to have more opportunities to invest in oil and gas distribution networks in Europe.

"We'll discuss energy as a whole. I have no reason not to be optimistic about (a deal on) energy — it's one of the most promising sectors," Chizov said.

The agreement should also spell out cooperation in justice and home affairs, research, education and cultural issues. But differences remain about human rights and over the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with which Russia maintains close ties.

Russia wants the EU to pay more attention to what it sees as discrimination against ethnic Russians in the Baltic nations.

The talks opened only after much wrangling within the EU. They were first blocked by Poland due to Moscow's ban on imports of Polish meat and plant products, and then by Lithuania, which demanded Russia improve its ties with its neighbors, cooperate in criminal investigations, and fix a pipeline to supply a Lithuanian refinery with crude oil.

Most EU nations are eager to have closer ties with Moscow, notably to secure more stable oil and gas supplies amid rising energy prices.

Negotiators will meet again in September, Landaburu said.

(Published by AP - july 4, 2008)