4:3 Russia has eye on Asia as way to expand its role as energy supplier

Russia is preparing to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) this weekend with the aim of becoming a bigger player in expanding Asian markets. The summit is being held in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Russia hopes to secure agreements to supply energy to China, South Korea and Japan through a gas supply from East Siberia. "There are a number of large projects for extracting gas and oil in this area, and also the (projects of) transportation which goes from Siberia to the Eastern countries. So, it is all very important, " said Andrey Kostin, the Chairman of the APEC Summit. Kostin also spoke of his hope that the APEC summit give rise to opportunities for Russia to "conclude the proper trading agreements with the countries of the region." Speaking at a news conference, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that the government was in dialogue with ASEAN countries. "There are several projects with certain ASEAN countries, and we are ready to develop the cooperation in various forms," Lavrov told the audience. Russia has the oil and natural gas that Asia needs to fuel its economic expansion. Malaysian Foreign Minister, Hanifah Aman, confirmed that Russia's energy supplies were "worth looking into." "If it is good for Malaysia then we will be very, very happy to have that kind of cooperation between Russia and Malaysia," he added. Russia's economy has been largely oriented toward Europe, conducting half of its foreign trade with the European Union. But a crisis in the euro zone is cutting demand for Russian energy supplies and undermining global growth. "Up to now, Russia's main market was Europe so Russia was talking about starting a supply of gas to China, Japan, Korea for some time," said Alexander Kolyandr, a Senior Reporter for The Wall Street Journal. At the moment, less than a quarter of Russia's trade is with APEC, whose members include China, Japan and other Asian economic tigers in addition to the United States. Russia wants to be more than a supplier of natural resources to Asia, however, and is eager to attract the investment it needs to diversify and modernise its economy. The first pipeline to send oil east to China began operation in early 2011. An extension of the pipeline to a port near Vladivostok is scheduled for completion by the end of this year, and Russia wants to build plants there to produce petro-chemicals and fertilisers, adding value to its exports. The eastern regions of the country also have rich deposits of coal and metals, vast forests and plenty of undeveloped land where grain could be grown to meet rising demand in China. =========================================================== Clients are reminded: (i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com (ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service (iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5796bc04230554a6d0748cf00960aeeb Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork