The June 7-8 ministerial meeting in Aomori, some 600 kilometres (370 miles) north of Tokyo, brings together China, India, South Korea, and the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations.

Russia is the only big energy supplier among the 11 countries, whose total demand accounts for some 65 percent of what the world's needs, according to data by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

Oil prices reached record peaks of 135.14 dollars a barrel in London and 135.09 dollars in New York on May 22, soaring five-fold since 2003 amid turbulence in the Middle East and rising demand in emerging economies.

The Aomori meeting will start Saturday with talks among five nations which consume half of the world energy -- the United States and Asia's largest economies of Japan, China, India and South Korea.

"As crude oil prices continue to rise abnormally, it will be an important opportunity to discuss how we should cope with the situation with a shared sense of crisis," Japan's industry minister Akira Amari said this week.

The five-nation meeting will discuss mainly "energy security," he told reporters.

Climate change will also be on the agenda for the 11 countries, which together release 65 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming.

The climate will be a major issue when the leaders of the G8 hold a summit from July 7 to 9 in Japan's northern resort of Toyako.

A senior government official said that Japan, as the host of this weekend's meeting, hoped to encourage greater IEA cooperation with China and India, which both lag behind in emergency oil reserves despite growing consumption.

The official also said Japan hoped the meeting will note the importance of countries setting oil prices based on markets, rather than lowering them with subsidies.

"Developing countries such as China and India have been giving subsidies, which doesn't send a message of energy-saving and burdens their state coffers," the official said, requesting anonymity.

India's government on Wednesday hiked fuel prices after its state-run oil companies said they had been hit hard by the soaring global prices while having to sell fuels at heavily discounted prices.

The G8 energy ministers' meeting is set for Sunday, which will be followed by another round of talks later in the day with participation by China, India and South Korea.

The G8 groups Britain, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Besides energy security, the agenda at the 11-nation meeting will also include an initiative for international cooperation on energy saving and developing clean energy.

Japan, Europe and the United States have been discussing creating an "International Partnership for Cooperation on Efficient Energy" as a framework for exchanging information on energy-saving practices.

Amari earlier this month said that he wanted oil producers to share in the sense of crisis.

He voiced hope that "oil-producing countries not take an easy-going stance that the higher the prices are the higher their revenue is."

The meeting comes on the heels of a high-level summit in Rome on addressing rising food prices, which have triggered riots in some countries and which experts blame in part on higher energy costs and the growing reliance on biofuels.

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