TOKYO, April 13. /TASS/. Relations between Russia and Japan are developing faster than between other countries; this concerns, in particular, cooperation between regions and businesses, said Yevgeny Shulepov, State Duma MP from the United Russia party, on Friday at a meeting with Chairman of Japan’s Komeito party Natsuo Yamaguchi. Yevgeny Shulepov heads a delegation of Russian parliamentarians who arrived to Japan.

"There are MPs from all parliamentary factions in our delegation. This means that all parties represented in the State Duma are interested in developing relations with Japan. We as MPs are constantly monitoring development of relations between Russia and Japan and state an upward trend at the interregional and international levels. All decisions made by our leaders, as well as intergovernmental agreements, are being fully implemented," he said.

According to Shulepov, "Russian-Japanese relations are the most dynamic now compared to other countries." He noted that "cooperation between Russian regions and Japanese businesses is most actively developing."

The head of Komeito, that is part of Japan’s ruling coalition along with the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, hopes that the current visit of the Russian delegation of parliamentarians, as well as bilateral exchanges at various levels, will make a great contribution to the consolidation of cooperation between the two countries. "Japanese-Russian relations are actively developing under the strong leadership of [Japanese] Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe and [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin. I believe that we, the MPs, should back this course, and the [delegation’s] current visit, as well as bilateral exchanges at various levels, will make a great contribution to the consolidation of cooperation," he said.

The Russian State Duma MPs are staying in Japan on a three days’ visit. On Thursday, they took part in a session of the Parliamentary Association of Japanese-Russian Friendship. Yamaguchi and some Komeito MPs visited Russia last year, where they met with Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko.