MOSCOW, Feb 10: Finance chiefs from the world’s leading industrial nations kick off two days of discussions here on Friday focused squarely on mounting Western concern over the Kremlin’s swelling clout in world oil and gas markets.

Taking its first turn at the helm of the Group of Eight, Russia has set a diverse agenda for the meeting that will include talk about world trade, debt relief for poor countries, fighting infectious diseases and terror financing.

As host to its seven G8 partners — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — Russia has also invited emerging giants Brazil, China, India and South Africa to talks alongside the G8 discussion.

Attention during the two days of meetings that begin with a Kremlin dinner on Friday will center on issues likely to be taken up by the G8 leaders at their annual summit in July in Saint Petersburg.

Discussion of more technical issues like currency market regulation traditionally addressed by G7 finance ministers — Russia does not take part in these talks — will be avoided altogether this weekend, a device to avoid excluding Russia from portions of meetings it is hosting.

In a sign of continuing unease over Russia’s presence, top finance officials from the other seven members met quietly Thursday in London without inviting Russia to discuss monetary and financial issues, the Financial Times Deutschland reported Friday.—AFP