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Tokyo’s new governor intends to bolster ties with Moscow

The governor said last year the two cities signed a memorandum on the development of ties on issues of urban development and planning, sports and waste recycling

Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

Tokyo’s governor, Yuriko Koike

© AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

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TOKYO, September 21. /TASS/. On Wednesday Tokyo’s new governor, Yuriko Koike, confirmed her intension to continue developing ties with Moscow.

"We intend to continue developing bilateral relations, deepen practical cooperation in the spheres that meet the interests of both cities," said Tokyo’s first female governor, marking that Moscow and Tokyo became twin cities back in 1991.

Within these 25 years, "cooperation and exchanges between the capitals of our states have been actively developing in different spheres," Yuriko Koike said. "I am extremely glad to realize that I became governor exactly this year, which is an anniversary one for our relations,’ she added.

The governor said last year the two cities signed a memorandum on the development of ties on issues of urban development and planning, sports and waste recycling.

Cooperation prospects

According to the Tokyo governor, the two metropolises have common problems - waste recycling and traffic jams. She said these issues were prioritized in the memorandum. "I would like to see Tokyo and Moscow continue exchanging experience, boosting cooperation in very different spheres at the level of administrations and in the private sector," the governor said.

The memorandum on cooperation between the two capital cities was signed in October 2015, when Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin visited Tokyo. The sides agreed then to cooperate on city development and planning, sports and waste recycling. The then governor, Yoichi Masuzoe, resigned in the summer of 2016.

Japan’s ex-Defense Minister Yuriko Koike has become Tokyo’s first female governor, winning the July election. As a member of the ruling Liberal-Democratic Party, she failed to secure support from the faction in the run-up to the gubernatorial election. In spite of that, the official candidate of the ruling party was left trailing far behind.

The main points of her program are the development of education, a system of pre-schools, and creating conditions in Tokyo in which ‘every woman will be able to realize her potential".

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