"I am convinced that there will be a closer cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during talks with Nordic foreign ministers meeting in Harstad in the Arctic Circle.

He said the drive would not be derailed by a dispute last month over a Russian trawler, accused by Norway of illegally fishing in the Arctic, and a long-running controversy over setting a maritime boundary between the two countries.

Cooperation could include both production of oil and gas and specialised equipment for work in the Barents Sea region, where costs are high because of factors including freezing cold, winter darkness and the risk of icebergs, he said.

Norwegian energy groups Statoil and Norsk Hydro are on a shortlist of five foreign companies, along with Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Total, to help Russia's Gazprom develop the vast Shtokman natural gas field in the Arctic.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere also said he wished for closer ties on oil and gas. But he said Norway hoped for common international standards for oil and gas exploitation in the Arctic to protect the fragile environment.

COMMON RULES

"It helps very little if we adopt very different rules and say we are taking care of the environment unless there really is a comprehensive approach," he said.

The nations at the talks -- Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland -- separately agreed measures ranging from relaxing some visa requirements to promoting trade and protecting the environment.

A report by 250 scientists last year said the region was warming faster than the rest of the globe, apparently because of a build-up of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels, and that the Arctic Ocean could be free of ice in summer by 2100.

"We have not done enough given the magnitude of the challenge," Finnish Foreign Minister Errki Tuomioja said.

Temperatures in Harstad, a port of 15,000 people, were a relatively balmy 7 Celsius (44.6 Fahrenheit) on Thursday. Snows have failed to fall as normal across large parts of the region in recent years, disrupting winter pastures for reindeer and birds' migration patterns.

Nordic nations and Russia have been holding ministerial talks most years since 1993 to promote regional cooperation cut off by the East-West divide during the Cold War.