VLADIVOSTOK, September 7 /TASS /. Japanese companies see real opportunities for business development in the Far East, said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the 2017 Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.

"Japanese companies see real business opportunities in the Far East," he said. The Prime Minister also noted that during his meeting with heads of leading Japanese companies on September 6, his business representatives agreed with his vision for the regions' role for the economy.

"Vladivostok is a city that goes out into the sea and connects Russia with the whole world and with the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

"In the past year, we have been able to achieve significant progress in implementing the eight-point plan," Abe said. He was confident that active work on the economic cooperation plan would continue.

Russia and Japan have recently been boosting economic cooperation based on the eight-point plan put forward by the Japanese prime minister in May 2016. The document stipulates that Russia and Japan should strengthen relations in the energy sphere, small and medium-size business, the industrialization of Russia’s Far East, as well as expand exports. The plan also envisages that the two countries should enhance interaction in the cutting-edge technologies field, including the nuclear energy sphere, as well as humanitarian cooperation.