Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and First Vice-President of European Commission and EU Commissar for foreign affairs and security Catherine Ashton on Thursday discussed prospects of cooperation in the field of energy at a meeting in Moscow, the Russian Minister told journalists at a press conference after the talks, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
"We want our energy cooperation to be added by mutually beneficial, promising, from the point of strengthening of European energy security, projects," Lavrov said.
As an example of such efficient project, the Russian Foreign Minister mentioned gas pipeline North Stream launched on November 8. Lavrov said the North Stream opens a new page in the Russia-EU partnership.
The Minister continued to say that at the Thursday talks the sides also examined the situation around construction of a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline and a series of problems in the energy interaction, particularly, related to implementation of the so-called third energy package in EU states.
"We hope to continue talks on these topics to find mutually acceptable accords meeting the interests of the sides and based upon legal realities," Lavrov added.
For her part, Ashton voiced her confidence that Russia and the EU should continue to cooperate as effectively as possible in the field of energy. As for the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, she noted the necessity of paying attention to ecological safety of this project.
The Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is assumed as part of the Southern Gas Corridor for Caspian energy export to European markets. It envisions the laying of a 300-kilometer pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan over the seabed. Turkmenistan is to bear the main raw material burden in the project.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the EU priority energy projects. It is designed to diversify energy export routes and sources and thus increase EU energy security. The Southern Gas Corridor comprises gas pipeline Nabucco, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), and ITGI.