St. Petersburg to host 2nd Russian-US energy summit

The second Russian-US business summit devoted to cooperation in the fuel and energy sector will take place in St. Petersburg on September 22 to 23, 2003. Among participants are Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref, US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov, US Secretary of Energy Spenser Abraham, the heads of largest oil, gas and coal companies and financial agencies.

The agenda of the summit includes seven sections, such as "The Dialogue in the Electric Energy Sector", "Finances and Investment Cooperation", "The Market, Infrastructure and Transportation of Energy Sources", "Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Fuel and Energy Sector", "Cooperation in the Sphere of Science and Personnel Training". The organizers of the summit are the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the United States Energy Association.

On the basis of this summit it is planned to prepare materials for a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President George W. Bush devoted to the issues of the fuel and energy sector.

The first Russian-US energy summit took place in Houston, Texas, in October 2002. Among Russian participants were representatives of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, including YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, LUKoil head Vaghit Alekperov, Itera head Igor Makarov.