AOMORI — Energy ministers from the Group of Eight nations on Sunday agreed on the establishment of a new international framework aimed at facilitating energy-saving measures to temper climate change and soaring fuel costs, at a time when crude oil is closing in on $140 a barrel.
Japan, which hosted the one-day meeting, and the other G8 members — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States — decided to set up the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation and invited China, India, South Korea and other countries to participate in the initiative.
In the northeastern city of Aomori, the G8 powers and the three Asian countries, which are responsible for about 65 percent of the world's energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions, said they share "serious concerns over the current level of oil prices."