Chairmen of Russian and Japanese Audit Chambers discussed in Tokyo the plans of joint actions

At their meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, Chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber Sergei Stepashin and his Japanese counterpart Tsutomu Sugiuru discussed the carrying out of joint checks of economic projects. "At our first meeting we have agreed on concrete cooperation between the Audit Chambers of Russia and Japan," Sergei Stepashin said to a RIA Novosti correspondent upon the completion of the negotiations.

According to him, after returning to Moscow, the Russian Audit Chamber will send to the Audit Chamber of Japan a concrete proposal on checking the Sakhalin-1 and the Sakhalin-2 projects on developing the oil and gas resources on the island.

"The second important trend in our cooperation will be the investment programmes of Japan and Russia," said Sergei Stepashin. He pointed out that with regard to this question the Russian side will present concrete proposals to the Audit Chamber of Japan in the near future.

Sergei Stepashin also told the RIA Novosti correspondent about the third trend in the cooperation between the Audit Chambers of the two countries which their heads discussed on Tuesday. This is cooperation of the Audit Chambers in controlling the deliveries of sea products from Russia to Japan.

According to him, beginning with September this year, the Audit Chambers of the two countries have already started joint checks of the deliveries of sea products. They plan to complete these checks and sum up the results in January-February next year. Sergei Stepashin said that violations of the law in delivering sea products from Russia to Japan inflicts on the Russian side a tremendous economic damage which is estimated at approximately two billion dollars annually.