TOKYO, February 12. /TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for strengthening relations with Russia at the opening of the parliament session on Thursday.
He also urged the development of stable friendly relations with China, called South Korea Japan’s most important neighbor and promised to make every effort to solve the problem with Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea’s special services.
Talking about the relations with Russia, Abe spoke in favor of continuing negotiations on signing a peace deal with Moscow. "The war ended seventy years ago, but a peace deal is still not signed between our countries," the prime minister said.
"By this time, we have held 10 meetings with Russian President [Vladimir] Putin. Taking these meetings as a basis, I will continue developing cooperation with Russia in different spheres, including in economy and culture, and continue persistent negotiations on signing the peace treaty," Abe noted.
The prime minister also stressed he hopes that Putin will pay a visit to Japan in 2015.
There is no decline in the economic relations between Russia and Japan in connection with the current international situation, Alexey Repik, head of the Russian union of entrepreneurs "Delovaya Rossiya" and member of the Civic Chamber, told TASS on February 10. By 2019, "the sun will rise" in the relations between the two countries, Repik, who heads the Russian business delegation currently on a visit in Japan, noted.
"Restrictions are always harmful. It is always much more comfortable to do business when there are no external factors limiting the realization of one’s potential to the fullest," he said. "It is absolutely inappropriate to talk about the decline in the economic cooperation between Russia and Japan, especially here, in the Land of the Rising Sun. The sun of the Russian-Japanese business is only rising. I am confident that we will be able to see the results of the last years’ work in 2-3 or 4 years," Repik added.