PRESS RELEASE
Japan-Russia Move on Kuril Projects
Feb. 9, 2017 (EIRNS)—Official consultations between Russia and Japan on joint economic projects on the Southern Kuril Islands are scheduled for March 14.
"It is planned that in the course of the upcoming talks a package of projects that could be implemented in the near future will be coordinated,"
said Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Third Asian Department Lyudmila Vorobyova. This would be part of the implementation of the agreement on joint economic activities on the Southern Kuril Islands reached during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan on Dec. 15-16, 2016.
In a visit to Russia on Feb. 7, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Tokyo was considering and defining aspects of joint economic activities with Russia on the islands, in fishing, tourism, healthcare, the environment, and other areas.
Vorobyova said that Russian government agencies and the Sakhalin Region administration are working on developing
"proposals concerning the most promising areas in terms of socio-economic development in the Southern Kurils. These are primarily fish breeding, fish processing, infrastructure improvement, geothermal energy, tourism, medicine."
