Photo: Courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
The Year of Japanese-Russian Interregional Exchanges will be held between the two countries for the first time in history, Japanese Ambassador to Russia Toyohisa Kozuki said. Events of the year are planned for 2020, they are designed to maintain the drive set by the Cross Year of Japan and Russia, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper writes. Journalists note that the Japanese ambassador answered questions in perfect Russian.
Kozuki expressed the hope that Russian-Japanese exchanges would expand and cover various parts of the two countries. According to him, the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Osaka during the G20 summit gave new impetus to the development of bilateral relations.
The head of the Japanese government plans to take part in the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), which will be held in early autumn in Vladivostok.
Japan plans to ease the visa regime for businessmen and students from Russia since this September. Innovation will affect Russians engaged in joint Japanese-Russian programs, as well as students of 465 Russian universities. This step is being taken as part of the task of increasing the bilateral flow of people between our countries to 400 thousand people by 2023, while in 2017 it amounted to about 180 thousand people.
The ambassador noted that the plan proposed by Shinzo Abe about three years ago was at the heart of cooperation between Russia and Japan. It includes eight points, more than two hundred joint projects have been formed on the basis of them. Moreover, this plan is consistent with the work on the implementation of Russian national projects, which were specified in the last year's May decree of the Russian president. Joint programs, in medicine and economy in particular, contribute to improving the quality of life of Russian citizens.
Kozuki praised the results of the last Cross Year of Russia and Japan. He noted that the scale of the event significantly distinguished it from all previous exchange programs. The ambassador expressed the hope that the coming Year of Interregional Exchanges would allow to drastically expand humanitarian contacts between the two countries.
The Japanese are also waiting to meet with Russian athletes at the Olympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo in the summer of 2020. Kozuki assured that the national team would be met with great hospitality.
Russkiy Mir reported that a number of documents on cooperation in the digital economy, manufacturing of medical equipment, tourism and other areas were signed following the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the margins of the G20 Osaka summit. The leaders of the two countries discussed issues relating to the peace treaty and joint economic activities in the South Kuril Islands.
Russkiy Mir
