Germany and Qatar have signed a declaration to deepen their energy partnership with a focus on trade in hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The partnership agreement provides for regular meetings between the authorities of both countries and the creation of a working group to develop trade relations in the field of LNG and hydrogen, as well as a group dedicated to renewable energy.

The agreement does not mean long-term LNG deals will be struck, three people familiar with the supply talks told Reuters.

Those talks will run into difficulties, they said, as Berlin does not want to agree to Qatar's terms of signing agreements for at least 20 years to provide the huge amounts of LNG Germany needs to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.

Russia is currently Germany's largest gas supplier, and Habek has come up with a number of initiatives aimed at reducing Berlin's energy dependence on Moscow.