Japan-Russia set up $1bn investment platform
April 29, 2013, 2:17 pm

President Putin pointed out that the relations between the countries “are showing steady and positive development” [PPIO]

During the talk the sides set up an investment platform of $1 billion as a new instrument to boost bilateral investment, with a major focus on Russia’s Far East and Eastern Siberia.

President Putin and Mr Abe agreed to jointly invest into infrastructure development, medicine and healthcare, technologies of “smart cities” and alternative energy sources.

This is the first time a Japanese leader has made a diplomatic visit to Moscow in a decade.

Putin pointed out that the relations between the countries “are showing steady and positive development.”

“Our bilateral trade has reached a record level, though I think that for countries like ours it could still be a lot bigger. But we value the positive trend. Our trade increased last year, and this trend continued over the first 3-4 months of this year,” Putin said.

“I am sure that we will have the chance to discuss all of the key issues in our relations today, including the question of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, and we will discuss the rather serious problems in the region in general,” added the president.

Over the last ten years bilateral trade between Russia and Japan has increased eight-fold and reached $31 billion and the total accumulated Japanese investment in the Russian economy reached $10.7 billion by the end of last year.

The number of Japanese companies working on the Russian market has also doubled during the period.

Japan is among the top-10 major investors in the Russian economy.

“I am very pleased indeed to see these developments in our ties,” confirmed the Japanese prime minister.

“But we have not fully developed our cooperation’s potential yet, and the times quite simply demand that we raise the level of our work together as partners. Not only would this be in both countries’ national interests, but it would contribute to stability and prosperity in our region and in the world in general,” said Mr Abe.

The Japanese prime minister arrived in Moscow accompanied by a business delegation of 120 members, the biggest ever contingent to Russia.

The meeting is the latest attempt to strike a peace treaty between the two countries after World War II.

Whereas, both sides are engaged in a dispute regarding a set of islands that Russia call the ‘Southern Kurils’ and Japan call the ‘Northern Territories’.

“I would like to agree on a new start to the protracted negotiations on a peace treaty,” Abe said in an interview shown on Russian state television before the visit.

Daria Chernyshova