More than 20 new projects of economic cooperation will be additionally signed during the visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Russia, RIA News reports, quoting Kyodo and the governmental sources.
The source notes that these projects rank among 80 documents, signed during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan in last December, as well as are additional and intended to strengthen the bilateral cooperation.
Previously, NHK Television Company reported that during Abe’s visit to Russia, which starts on April 27, the agreement will be signed on sending the joint group, composed of governmental officials and business representatives, to South Kuril Islands, which would study the prospective areas for cooperation. According to the television company’s data, the possibility of free visit of the islands by former citizens, including the charter flight connection, will also be discussed.
In December, during the visit of President Vladimir Putin to Japan, 12 intergovernmental agreements and 68 documents on business projects were signed. As RIA News reported in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, they are all, to the greater or lesser extent, under development and concretization.
The visit of the Prime Minister of Japan will be held on April 27-28; during his trip, Abe will be accompanied by the Minister of Economy of Japan Hiroshige Seko, responsible for the development of economic cooperation with Russia. The program of his visit somehow differs from the Prime Minister, because he plans to visit Voronezh, where he will consider prospective areas for application of Japanese technologies in regulation of traffic streams, modernization of water piping and others.
Previously, on Tuesday, the press office of RF President reported that Putin will discuss the progress of realization of previously reached agreements and prospects of development of Russian and Japanese cooperation, with Abe during his visit to Russia on April 27. It is planned to discuss the state and prospects of development of Russian and Japanese cooperation in political, trade and economic and humanitarian spheres. Putin and Abe are expected to exchange opinions on some actual international and regional problems.
Tokyo sets the transfer of the islands, such as Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and Khabomai, as the conditions for conclusion of the peaceful agreement with Russia. The Moscow’s position is that South Kuril Islands were included into USSR as per the results of the Second World War and the Russian sovereignty over them has the relevant international legal execution and cannot be disputed.
