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Russian, Japanese businessmen to hold consultations during Putin’s current visit to Japan

TOKYO, December 15. /TASS/. Representatives of Russian and Japanese businesses will hold consultations during the current visit of President Vladimir Putin to Japan, CEO of Marubeni Corporation Teruo Asada said in an interview with TASS. He added that these business meetings will be unprecedented large-scale events.

"Japan Business Federation [Keidanren] and Japan Association for Trade with Russia and New Independent States [ROTOBO] plan to hold meetings on December 16 which will consists of thematic sections and involve 600 people. After that a plenary session involving 400 people will be held and finally a reception where about 700 people are expected. These will be unprecedented events in terms of scale. They will involve various companies which are related to the eight point plan of cooperation with Russia proposed by Shinzo Abe," Asada said.

"Such a dialogue provides a great opportunity to bring the Japanese-Russian relations to a qualitatively new level. We would like the upcoming meetings to be meaningful and I hope that such contacts in the economic sector will have a positive impact on the entire complex of bilateral relations, including the conclusion of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan," Asada added.

He said that currently the Japanese business community is completing inspection, specification and coordination of numerous projects related to cooperation with Russia and the eight point plan proposed by Abe.

"Our corporation Marubeni and other Japanese companies are doing their best to reach an agreement with the Russian party," he said.

Speaking about the eight point plan the businessman said that cooperation on infrastructure and municipal services are regarded as priorities.

"What I find promising is the expansion of trade-related infrastructure in the Russian Far East as a window for the Japanese-Russian business, development of water and sewer systems, garbage disposal, cooperation in health sector, agriculture, seafood processing, timber industry," he said.

Asada said that his corporation is studying the project to create a facility for shipment of coal in the port of Vostochny. The company is also actively involved in the upgrade of enterprises as well as in the project of production and transportation of petrochemical products.

The eight-point cooperation plan to develop relations between the two countries was proposed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Sochi on May 6. It envisages the development of relations between Japan and Russia in the energy sector, small and medium-sized businesses, the promotion of the industrialization of the Far East and the expansion of the export base. In addition, it contains a proposal to strengthen cooperation in advanced technologies, including the nuclear power industry, and in humanitarian exchanges.