RusEnergy

MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will increase natural gas exports to Pacific Rim countries from the current 3% to 30% of its total exports by 2020, a Russian envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday. "This will be an important Russian contribution to ensuring energy security in the Asia-Pacific region," the Foreign Ministry quoted Yevgeny Afanasyev, envoy to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, as saying. Afanasyev said the planned increase is due to the region's brisk economic growth against a backdrop of rising energy prices. The Russian envoy said the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific could serve as a good platform for dialogue between energy producers and consumers in the Asia-Pacific region to ensure energy security and search for the most effective methods of solving energy problems. "Such cooperation could include information exchanges on energy polices, measures to determine areas for joint investment to develop energy infrastructure, analysis of regulatory and legal frameworks in the energy sphere, and efforts to harmonize standards and invest in energy and transit of energy products," Afanasyev said.