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Japanese Mitsui ready to help Russia's Rusagro develop exports to Asia

The companies agreed on mutual intentions to consider investment opportunities

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Rusagro and Japanese Mitsui & Co want to develop business in the Far East for export of Rusagro’s products to Asia. The companies also intend to introduce Japanese technologies and discuss investment opportunities, according to Rusagro.

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"Rusagro Plc. and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. signed Memorandum of Understanding that acknowledges mutual intentions to develop new business opportunities in Russian Federation (incl. Far East region) regarding export of Rusagro’s goods and products to Asian and other countries and introduction of advanced technologies and products from Japan and other counties into Rusagro’s four business divisions," the company said.

At the same time, the companies "agreed on mutual intentions to consider investment opportunities," Rusagro noted.

Mitsui agrees to buy 10% in R-Pharm

Mitsui & Co agreed to buy 10% in the Russian pharmaceutical company R-Pharm with a possible extension of the share to 20%, Chairman of the Board of R-Pharm Alexey Repik told reporters.

"At the moment, there is an agreement to acquire 10% in R-Pharm with a possible extension of the share up to 20%. Mitsui has an opportunity to expand its share with the involvement of large public Japanese financial and industrial investors," Repik said, answering a question from TASS.

Sakhalin-3 project

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Japan’s economy minister says Russia is ‘forefront of possibilities’ for Tokyo

Mitsui & Co and Gazprom are currently discussing possibilities for the Japanese company to participate in the Sakhalin-3 project, Mitsui's COO Hirotatsu Fujiwara said on Friday at the Russian-Japanese business forum held in Tokyo in the framework of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Japan.

"If we are talking about the Sakhalin-3 project, then we have started a discussion with Gazprom on coordinating the details of our participation in the project," Fujiwara said.

Japan's Mitsui earlier expressed readiness to invest in the Sakhalin-3 project. "We are interested in the Sakhalin-3 project because (gas produced in the framework of the) Sakhalin-2 project is not enough. We are ready to invest in Sakhalin-3," Mitsui's CEO Hiroshi Meguro said in September at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

Possible asset swap

Gazprom agreed on a possible asset swap with Mitsui and Mitsubishi, according to Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee Alexey Miller.

He noted that Gazprom entered the "level of strategic partnership" with traditional partners in Japan. "We are talking about companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi, which are shareholders in the project Sakhalin-2. We are building relationships with these companies as strategic partners for the entire value chain of the gas business. There are also plans for possible asset swap through cooperation at all levels of the chain," Miller said.

Miller noted, that asset swap would be possible "in different forms", the exact parameters of the process are not yet defined.

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