Ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries said in a communiqué that global economic expansion was strong but at risk because of high and volatile energy prices.

The communiqué said more work was needed to coordinate energy policy and promote price stability through a properly functioning market.

The meeting in Moscow marked Russia's first presidency of the G8 club - which also includes the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Britain and Italy - and Russian President Vladimir Putin has made energy security a central theme for 2006.

Russia is one of the world's biggest oil and gas suppliers but a recent row with Ukraine, in which it closed the gas taps, has made other G8 countries uneasy because the spat disrupted supplies in countries such as Hungary, Austria and Italy too.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Rodrigo Rato, present at the talks, said supply problems increasingly seemed to be part of the problem, and not just surging demand from countries such as China.

The Moscow meeting also allowed time for some discussion of Russian entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Reuters