3rd Russian-Japanese forum opens in Tokyo

TOKYO, May 21. /TASS/. The third Russian-Japanese forum ‘Points of Contact: Business, Investments, Sports" opened in Tokyo on Thursday. "Let me say my sincere thanks for your finding a possibility to take part in our forum organized jointly with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily," Yutaka Asahina, the president of the Mainichi Newspapers Co., said in his opening speech. "The first forum was held on the backdrop of the Japanese prime minister’s visit to Russia in February 2013. The second forum was held in Moscow in September 2014 on the backdrop of the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine," he said, adding that the organizer had no hesitations when deciding to hold the current forum. Speaker of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house Sergei Naryshkin addressed the opening ceremony with a speech entitles "A View on the Future of the Russian-Japanese Relations." Speeches at the forum will also be delivered by Russian president’s envoy for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi, Russian Ambassador to Japan Yevgeby Afanasyev, Russian Deputy Minister for the Development of the Far East Sergei Kachayev, and Japan’s former Prime Minister (2000-2001) Yoshiro Mori. Read more