The focus of the Asian energy roundtable to be held here Thursday will be on issues that ensure economic security, stability and sustainability in the region, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said Tuesday.

"It is a historic forum where all significant buyers and sellers would be meeting. We are attempting to ensure stability, security and sustainability through mutual interdependence in Asian economy," Aiyar said on the sidelines of a meet to announce 20 new oil and gas exploration blocks for investment.

"There is no set agenda for the roundtable but it is a forum for exchange of views. The conclusion, if any, would be known at the close of the roundtable," he said.

Oil ministers and officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia and host India would attend the meet. The meet is to be co-hosted by the International Energy Forum.

Denying that Asian premium or a higher charge levied on Asian countries compared to buyers from Western countries would figure prominently, Aiyar said: "We will discuss all diverse issues ranging from market, to investment, technology transfer.

"No dimension is being excluded from the agenda. At the same time, the array of business focus does not have any exclusivity."

Two-thirds of all production by the Middle Eastern OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is currently exported to Asian countries of which only Japan is a developed country.

The Asian developing countries buying crude from Middle Eastern suppliers constitute the fastest growing importers of crude in the world. Of these, China and India are the largest and most rapidly growing importers.