Putin says G8 leaders agree to promote energy security

"Our strategy is based on a common understanding of the fact that humankind has a common energy future," Putin said. "A future for which we all share responsibility."

The G8 has agreed on joint efforts to make energy infrastructure more reliable, to diversify the production and supplies of energy resources, to increase energy efficiency and to develop alternative energy sources, he said.

Putin said Monday in his statement on the summit's results that G8 leaders had agreed to reduce barriers to energy investment, making it possible for energy producers and consumers to acquire upstream and downstream energy assets in other countries.

Earlier this year Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom unveiled ambitious plans to acquire energy companies in Europe and swapped some of its assets for ones owned by German companies BASF and E.ON, triggering Europeans' concerns about their dependence on Russian energy. For its part, the European Union has sought to get access to Russian pipelines and oil and gas deposits, while Russia has been reluctant to provide it.

The group has also emphasized nuclear energy's contribution to global energy security, Putin said.

The G8 has also decided to cooperate in the promotion of education to meet the challenges of a modern knowledge-based economy, Putin said.

Additionally, the group has announced that it will seek to fight infectious diseases, including avian flu, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and polio, he said.

The G8 leaders have said that they would seek to complete the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, which is mostly focused on the reduction of agricultural subsidies, by the end of this year. Other issues in the Doha Round include combating piracy and counterfeiting, fighting corruption and promoting poverty alleviation and peacekeeping programs in Africa.

The countries of the G8 have also agreed to fight the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and in particular agreed to submit the issue of Iran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council and urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program and stop missile launches, Putin said.

In general the summit was uneventful in terms of major policy announcements and was to a large extent focused on growing violence in the Middle East and failed to deliver a long-awaited agreement between the U.S. and Russia on the latter's accession to the World Trade Organization.

The G8 has announced their intention to combat terrorism and its threats including nuclear terrorism, increase cooperation in post-conflict stabilization, prevent violations of arms embargoes, put an end to Israel's current conflict with Lebanon and the Palestinian National Authority, find a compromise between Serbia and Kosovo on the issue of Kosovo's independence and stabilize the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan's Darfur region and Azerbaijan's breakaway republic of Nagorno Karabakh.

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