BRUSSELS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Top business executives from the European Union and the United States will participate in a forum on liquified natural gas (LNG) in Brussels on Thursday, as trade for the energy soars across the Atlantic.

Discussions will be around further possibilities for enhancing the transatlantic LNG trade, the role that competitively-priced U.S. LNG can play on the EU market and the growing opportunities for using LNG in the transport sector, the European Commission said in a press release.

The forum is "an important deliverable of the joint statement of July 25 2018 in Washington D.C." between President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the press release, when "they came to an understanding on the benefits of expanded exports of U.S. LNG to the EU gas market."

U.S. LNG imports to the EU have been increasing continuously since the first cargo in April 2016 and have seen a steep rise after the joint statement, said the European Commission.

Since then the cumulative EU imports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. have increased by 272 percent and March 2019 recorded the highest volume ever of EU-U.S. trade in LNG with more than 1.4 billion cubic metres.

In line with its LNG Strategy, the EU is actively supporting the development of new LNG capacity in Europe.