MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's finance minister will hold bilateral talks Friday with his G8 counterparts and the head of the World Bank ahead of a G8 finance ministers meeting slated for Saturday, a spokesman said.
Alexei Kudrin will hold a series of meetings in St. Petersburg, Russia's second city, to focus on global economic issues, oil markets, energy security, and access for the world's poorest countries to energy infrastructure, the Finance Ministry spokesman said.
Russia this year holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Eight club of leading industrialized nations, and will host the annual G8 summit for the first time in mid-July in St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin's hometown.
Friday, Kudrin will also meet at Moscow's National Hotel with World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who will also attend Saturday's talks in St. Petersburg.
Also coming to the Saturday talks are International Monetary Fund Director Rodrigo Rato, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia, and Karl-Heinz Grasser, the finance minister of current EU Council president Austria.
