MOSCOW – Trade minister Hiroshige Seko
and Russian Far East development minister Alexander Galushka agreed Friday to
promote economic development projects in Russia’s Far East ahead of a summit
between their leaders in December, Japanese government officials said.
Tokyo is hoping to use
bilateral economic cooperation to make progress on a territorial dispute with
Moscow over a group of islands seized by the Soviet Union after Japan’s World
War II surrender in August 1945 that remain under Russian control.
Seko told Galushka at their
meeting in Moscow that Japan wants to advance development projects in the
region for a successful summit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian
President Vladimir Putin on Dec. 15 in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
The Russian minister
emphasized the importance of promoting infrastructure and other projects
involving Japanese companies in the area, which is grappling with a falling
population and lags in industrial development other than in energy fields.
The Russian ministry for Far
East development has requested Tokyo’s cooperation for 18 projects, including
the modernization of Khabarovsk Novy Airport and the improvement of the port of
Vostochny’s coal shipping infrastructure.
The ministry has said total
investment in the 18 projects, if realized as requested, is estimated at around
¥1.7 trillion ($16.5 billion).
Russia’s economic development
ministry is also seeking Japan’s cooperation on 50 projects, although some of
the requests from the two ministries overlap.
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