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Japanese foreign minister may visit Russia early in December

Earlier, the Japanese media called October as possible time for Kishida’s visit to Moscow

TOKYO, October 19 /TASS/. The Japanese government is working out the details of a visit to Moscow of Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida early in December, Japan’s NHK TV channel reported on Wednesday.

The trip will be part of preparations for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan scheduled for mid-December and his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Earlier, the Japanese media called October as possible time for Kishida’s visit to Moscow.

Putin and Shinzo Abe may also meet each other on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru in November. But prior to that Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko, who is in charge of relations with Russia, is supposed to visit Moscow. Seko told TASS in one of his previous interviews that by that time, Japan would prepare a list of concrete projects for cooperation with Russia.

"For the moment, the representatives of Russia and Japan are working hard on this plan. We have received a great number of proposals from the Russian side. An 8-point plan envisages plenty of concrete projects: their number may exceed 100... We study their feasibility in the first place," the minister said.

Early in September, Putin and Abe met during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, the Russian Far East. They agreed to intensify the talks and hold their next meeting at the APEC summit in Peru in November.

Tokyo and Moscow are actively preparing for Putin’s visit to Japan scheduled for December. Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko may pay a visit to Japan early in November. A meeting of the bilateral Inter-Governmental Commission for Trade and Economic Issues, in which First Vice-Premier Igor Shuvalov will take part, is to take place in Tokyo the same month.