Russia's Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas and one of the largest companies in the world, recently held an opening ceremony for its new representative office in Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union.

Taking part in the ceremony were Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Energy Minister of the Russian Federation Anatoly Yanovsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of Belgium Alexander Romanov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov, European Commissioner for Energy Gunter Oettinger, representatives of Belgian executive and legislative bodies, European Parliament members, and heads of European oil and gas companies.

"As a global energy company, Gazprom has a vast network of international representative offices and aims to build up its presence both in existing and prospective markets," Medvedev said. "For over 40 years, Europe has been the company's major export market. Gazprom supplies natural gas to 20 European countries and invests billions of euros in major trans-European infrastructure projects. Today we are engaged in an active dialogue with the EU bodies and the opening of Gazprom's representative office in the EU capital will make it more efficient."

Gazprom has representative office in seven Former Soviet Union countries - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Latvia, Moldova, Turkmenistan and Ukraine - and in five countries beyond the FSU -Algeria, Brazil, China, Iran and Qatar.