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Tokyo governor calls for closer ties with Moscow

The two cities will sign an agreement on cooperation following the October 22 talks

Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP

Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe

© Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP

TOKYO, October 21. /TASS/. Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe will seek deeper and wider partnership with Russia's capital during talks planned for Thursday with Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, the Japanese official told TASS on Wednesday.

"Friendly relations between our cities were established in 1991," Masuzoe said. "But they have not been very active so far."

"They exist in sports, for example," the governor said. "Teams from the Russian capital regularly take part in international football youth tournaments in Tokyo. We’d like more Muscovites to come to the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo in 2020."

"In September last year I visited Moscow and met with Mayor Sobyanin," he went on. "We saw that our cities have similar problems and agreed on co-operation," Masuzoe said. "For instance, Moscow is interested in solving the problem of traffic jams and in recycling."

The two cities will sign an agreement on cooperation following the October 22 talks. Sobyanin is expected to visit several Tokyo facilities, including a traffic control centre.

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