Prospects for global economic growth and energy security took center stage on Saturday as finance ministers from the world's wealthiest countries opened their main session of discussion in St. Petersburg.

The ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized nations gathered for a two-day meeting as part of the preparations in the run-up to the G8 summit which President Vladimir Putin will host in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has said the meeting would center on challenges to the global economy at a time oil prices has more than doubled: global growth, oil market prospects and energy security.

Ministers are also expected to discuss the least developed countries' access to the energy infrastructure.

Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter and a major energy supplier to the European Union, has declared energy security the top priority during its G8 presidency.

"We want to have guaranteed volumes and markets for our energy exports," Kudrin said ahead of the St. Petersburg meeting.

The dialogue between producing and importing countries is important for long-term energy price forecasts, he said.

Price predictability can be ensured by "an increase in consumers' investment in production and in the share of producing countries in consumer countries' distribution networks," he said.

Source: Xinhua