MOSCOW. Nov 2 (Interfax) - Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) could grow into the world's largest company in terms of capitalization, First Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Gazprom board Dmitry Medvedev has said he believes.

"Gazprom's growing capitalization pushes the whole stock market, and vice versa some problems in the company could result in problems on the market in general. That is why the Gazprom board and management closely follow all processes concerning company's capitalization," Medvedev said in an exclusive interview with Interfax on Friday.

"Now, given the recent growth of stock indices, company's capitalization totals roughly $300 billion. This is a very high figure, but we think that this is not the end," Medvedev said.

"Why do we think so? Just because Gazprom is the world largest gas company in terms of reserves, and we can improve its work the way that stock indices and the international business community give relevant ratings to such improvements," Medvedev said.

"Various spheres in which Gazprom works should be developed: we should invest in the development of new fields and transportation in various directions, we should diversify the routes, and, deliver (gas) to traditional markets, such as Europe, and we should think about the Far East, Asia, and America," he said.

"It is natural that such measures directly influence Gazprom ratings. We should not only think about deliveries to other markets, but we should also structure the company's work in the country. We should all be involved in making its (Gazprom's) internal structure more rational. We are now engaged in business activities in the energy sector and have strengthened our positions in the oil market," Medvedev said.

Medvedev paid particular attention to issues related to the corporate management and company's transparency during the interview. "A company is judged by the extent to which it is open for analysis. Gazprom has done a good job in this area over the past eight years. In 2000, there was an impression that the company worked as a Soviet ministry, on the basis of which Gazprom evolved. Now Gazprom is a full- fledged joint stock company, which the international auditing community audits, which is improving its corporate management, and is involved in budgeting activities," Medvedev said.

These things contribute to company's capitalization, he said. "If these areas continue to develop successfully, Gazprom will have a good chance to continue increasing its capitalization up to a level which can be compared to the highest figures in the world. There are prospects to evolve into the world's number one company. In my opinion, there are several subjective and objective preconditions for this," Medvedev said.