Official: Japan, Russia can agree on biz projects www3.nhk.or.jp
A senior official of Russia's Foreign Ministry has indicated that the country and Japan will agree on project plans for joint economic activities on Russian-controlled islands claimed by Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Japan last December. They agreed that the 2 countries will create a special system to implement joint economic activities on the islands in a way that will not violate Japanese or Russian laws.
Russia controls the islands. Japan claims them. The Japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of Japan's territory. It says the islands were illegally occupied after World War Two.
The 2 countries are scheduled to hold their first official meeting on the matter in Tokyo next month.
A Russian Foreign Ministry official in charge of diplomacy with Japan, Lyudmila Vorobyeva, held an interview with a Russian state-run news agency on Thursday.
Vorobyeva disclosed that her ministry is preparing business proposals to be presented to the Japanese side at the meeting. She said they cover such fields as aquaculture, seafood processing, geothermal power generation, and tourism.
Vorobyeva said the Russian side plans to agree on business plans that are likely to be realized in the near future.
During the interview, she also referred to the possible resumption of foreign and defense ministerial talks between the 2 countries. Vorobyeva said the meetings will likely occur in the first half of this year.
Such talks took place for the first time in Tokyo in 2013. But they have been suspended since Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014.
Published Date:2017-02-10