President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday announced plans to enact a Basic Energy Act as legal groundwork to implement improved national energy strategies.

The announcement is widely viewed as part of follow-up measures to the president's recently-concluded tour to Russia, Kazakhstan, India and Vietnam.

In a column written to celebrate the 15th anniversary of a local weekly magazine Sisa Journal, Roh said his administration would formulate concrete, long-term strategies in a bid to secure stable energy supplies by investing in joint oil-field development projects.

To this aim, he said he would organize a 'national energy committee' comprising ministers and experts of all energy-related fields to discuss ways to tap into overseas gas fields and to expand cooperation with Russia and other nations.

The president also noted that the government would support domestic companies in their bid to strike overseas deals in such projects as the Hanoi New City development project and the re-construction of Indian oil fields.