TOKYO, June 10. /TASS/. The plan for cooperation between Japan and Russia, put forward by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is producing specific results, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said on Monday before a meeting with Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko, responsible for economic ties with Russia.
"As for Russian-Japanese relations, the cooperation plan that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put forward in 2016… has already produced specific results," Oreshkin pointed out. He added that trade between the two countries had grown by 17% in 2018.
Seko, in turn, said he would like to thoroughly discuss the plan’s implementation ahead of a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka in late June.
Seko also thanked Russia for participating in a G20 ministerial meeting on trade and digital economy in Japan’s Tsukuba over the weekend. "Your participation made it possible for us to reach significant results," the Japanese minister noted.
Russian Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Konstantin Noskov, who is also taking part in talks with Seko, pointed out that "in particular, the two countries cooperate in the field of postal services." "We cooperate with Toshiba Company in providing equipment to our logistics centers," he added.
Russian-Japanese relations entered a new stage in 2016, when Abe put forward an eight-point cooperation plan. The cooperation plan implies boosting ties in the fields of energy, small business, tourism and the industrialization of Russia’s Far East. In addition, Moscow and Tokyo are also expected to cooperate in the area of cutting-edge technologies, including the nuclear energy sector, and conduct humanitarian exchanges. According to earlier reports, over 60 projects out of 130 developed in accordance with the plan are already being implemented.