BERLIN, Aug. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a working visit to Germany on Sept. 8, a news release of the German government said Friday.

    During the short stay here, Putin will meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to discuss bilateral trade and economic cooperation. They will focus on the energy sector, social and humanitarian projects. Urgent international issues are also ontheir agenda, the release said.

    Russia is looking into extending Gazprom's North European gas pipeline from Russia straight to northern Germany, Putin said on Wednesday in an interview with German TV channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF).

    The pipeline will pass through Russia's Vyborg region, gounder the Baltic Sea, and emerge in Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany.

    It will not go through any other countries, thus saving transport costs and make it more reliable for export.The Gazprom company has recently begun building the Northern-European natural gas pipeline (NEG), and plans to complete the first 100 kilometers through the Boksitogorsky area in theLeningrad region within six months.

    Under the NEG project, a total of 568 kilometers of pipelines will be built on and under land, and 1089 kilometers under the Baltic Sea. The pipeline will begin transporting gas in two years'time, and should reach its planned capacity of 55 billion cubicmeters per year in 2009. The total cost of the project iscurrently estimated at 5.7 billion US dollars. Enditem