Russian Vice-Premier Meets US Secretary Of Energy

Russian Vice Premier Viktor Khristenko met on Thursday US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham in the Russian House of government. The sides discussed the prospects of developing bilateral cooperation in the sphere of energy. Viktor Khristenko stressed that there had been "many serious events" in the sphere of bilateral energetic cooperation, such as, in particular, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) and the recent commencement of the Sakhalin-1 revenue service. The American Secretary, in his turn, called the implementation of the CPC project "an example of efficient cooperation" between the governments and business circles of the two countries. Abraham believes that this project is "a signal" to American companies that Russia has a normal investment climate. Abraham added that he had also had several "very fruitful" meetings in the Fuel and Energy, as well as in the Atomic Energy Ministry of the Russian Federation. The American Secretary said that these meetings led him to believe in good prospects of bilateral cooperation in the sphere of, in particular, nuclear energy.