PARIS, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T), a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant Gazprom, and Electricite de France (EDF) have agreed to swap natural gas between the U.S. and European markets, the Russian company has said in a statement.

"Trading will deliver to Gazprom in the U.S. a quantity of 0.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year (about 50 million cubic feet per day) for the next five years. Gazprom will deliver to EDF Trading the same quantity of natural gas per year in the UK within the same time period," GM&T said on Tuesday.

"This agreement enables us to ramp up our U.S. operation and provides us with gas supplies in areas of strategic importance," the company's CEO, Vitaly Vasiliev, was quoted as saying.

Both companies said they plan to boost cooperation in the future.

Gazprom Marketing & Trading Limited is a UK-registered wholly-owned subsidiary of Gazprom, established in 1999. Headquartered in London, the company manages Gazprom's marketing and trading activities on European markets.

On October 1, 2009, GM&T announced the launch of its North American natural gas business.