Medvedev: more dialogue needed
-We want Russia’s participation in international energy cooperation to become more efficient, we want to give the cooperation more weight, more effect, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a meeting on energy cooperation last week. He now calls on enhanced dialogue both with the EU and the USA.
In his opening speech at a seminar on energy cooperation in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk last week, President Medvedev signaled a new and more humble approach in relations with western countries saying that “political risks and practical consequences are not always fully calculated” and that “also we sometimes make mistakes”.
What is needed is more effective cooperation, Medvedev maintained. -We would like to increase Russia’s efficiency in energy cooperation, give it more weight, more effect, the president maintained. He added that consolidation between energy producers and consumers is needed and that dialogue with both the EU, USA, as well as with Asian and former Soviet states must be activated.
At the same time, the president underlined that Russia will not accept that issues of energy cooperation is conducted without the participation of Russia and that the country has “both the moral right and the legal and actual possibilities to seek participation in various energy processes all over the world”.
Mr. Medvedev also admitted that Russian dependency of energy transit countries has become bigger than previously expected and that the country now needs new “energy corridors” to importers.
The president in his speech concluded that Russia needs “a concrete programme on the strengthening of its positions on the world arena”.
