Tokyo: Japan's Foreign Minister
Katsuya Okada on Sunday begins his first visit to Russia in his
capacity.
During his two-day visit on December 27-28 he plans to
discuss "prospects for resolving the territorial issue in the
two countries' relations as well as the dates of Japanese
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's possible visit to Russia," a
Japanese diplomatic source said.
"Special attention to the territorial issue will be paid
at the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on
December 28 and at the two ministers' working lunch," the
official said.
In general "the talks with Lavrov will continue for about
three hours, which will allow to touch upon a wide range of
issues on the bilateral agenda."
Among other themes on the agenda of the talks will be "the
development of business cooperation, including that in energy,
and its intensification in the Asia-Pacific Region in the
light of Japan's presidency over the APEC forum in 2010 and
Russia's presidency in 2012," the official said.
Bilateral cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region "will be
considered proceeding from Prime Minister Hatoyama's
statements that he sees Russia as an important partner in this
direction." The two foreign ministers also "plan to study the
situation on the Korean Peninsula."
The economic bloc of issues will be considered at the
working meeting of Katsuya Okada and Russian Industry and
Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko today.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, December 27, 2009, 16:07