FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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With Help from Abe, Russia-Japan ‘Trade Growth Is Taking Shape,’ Observes Russian Minister

Feb. 22, 2018 (EIRNS)—Prior to his meeting with Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko in Tokyo today, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin said “implementation of the plan in eight cooperation areas offered by Prime Minister Abe has obviously facilitated [growth].” According to Oreshkin, Japan and Russia are currently working on “new dimensions of the plan.”

Following their meeting today, Seko told a press conference that the economic cooperation package proposed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2016 was an “important cornerstone of Japan-Russian ties.”

“We have agreed to provide support to realize the individual projects toward the planned summit‚” between Abe and President Vladimir Putin in May, Seko said, according to Kyodo News. This was the second working group gathering involving high-level officials from the relevant ministries of both countries, following their inaugural meeting in November 2016 in Moscow.

Moscow and Tokyo have agreed to intensify efforts to increase the number of Japanese businesses in the Russian Federation, Oreshkin said. “I have met [Japanese] entrepreneurs today to discuss the state of Russia’s business climate and economy. We have agreed to intensify efforts to increase the number of representatives of the Japanese business in Russia.”