Europe and the US are renewing efforts to loosen Russia’s stranglehold over Caspian oil and gas exports, in spite of lingering fears about the security of pipelines in the region in the wake of the war in Georgia.

A declaration signed by the European Commission, the US and 15 countries at an energy summit in Baku, the Azerbaijan capital, on Friday, called for deeper co-operation in Caspian oil and gas transport projects to improve international energy security.