TOKYO, October 24. /TASS/. Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko, who is in charge of the development of economic cooperation with Russia is planning to hold the first round of consultations on energy initiatives during his scheduled visit to Moscow in November as part of the dialogue mechanism proposed by the Japanese prime minister, Kyodo news agency reported on Monday.
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Seko will be the main representative on the Japanese side, Tokyo expects Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak to take part in the consultations. According to Japanese media, the talks are due to focus on cooperation in joint development of oil and gas fields, alternative energy, cooperation in technology development, exchange of nuclear energy experts and the construction of a plant for the production of methanol.
Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yasuhisa Kawamura, earlier told TASS that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested launching a mechanism of bilateral consultatons on cooperation in the energy sector during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.
On September 2, the Russian president and the Japanese prime minister held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok. After the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Putin’s visit to Japan would take place on December 15 in Abe’s hometown of Nagato in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Abe also said that he expected to have another meeting with the Russian leader in November, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru.