Russo-Japanese summit to discuss energy co-operation programme

The Russo-Japanese summit will consider the programme of energy co-operation development initiated by the Russian side at the Irkutsk summit in March 2001, the Kremlin sources told RIA Novosti.

Other issues on the agenda will be the creation of organisational mechanisms for co-operation in bilateral trade and investments and the search for ways to reach new agreements in the sphere of atomic energy, transport, communications, information technologies, exploration of space, etc.

The sources added that the recent trend to reduce trade volumes between the Russian Federation and Japan from some $6 billion to slightly more than $4 billion a year would also be discussed. The situation shaping up in this sphere requires serious efforts on the part of both countries to bringing their economic contacts in compliance with the existing potential, the sources stressed. In particular, it is necessary to consider efficient measures to encourage trade, improve the investment climate and promote specific projects of business co-operation.

Both countries need new schemes of trade-economic co-operation that would meet their modern political and economic demands, the sources said. It is necessary to determine what kind of support the two governments should give Russian and Japanese business circles so as to enhance their interest in interaction. In this context, the Kremlin believes, the visit by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will signal to Japanese business about the opportunity to intensify business contacts with the Russian Far East and Siberia.