Lavrov to discuss bilateral agreements in Tokyo, situation around North Korea

TOKYO, March 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will begin his working visit to Tokyo on Tuesday. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Minister will hold talks with his counterpart Taro Kono. Lavrov’s forthcoming visit to Tokyo will continue the series of contacts between heads of foreign affairs agencies and will be the main stage of preparation for the forthcoming visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Russia in May this year. It is expected that at the meeting the foreign ministers of the two countries will discuss the entire range of issues of bilateral cooperation, including political, trade, economic and cultural-humanitarian issues. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the ministers will also touch on timely issues on the international agenda, including the development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Syria, cooperation in the framework of multilateral formats. Following the talks, a Russian-Japanese plan for inter-ministerial consultations for 2018-2019 is expected to be signed. Moscow drew attention to the activation of Russian-Japanese political contacts. Thus, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs visited Moscow in November 2017. However, despite the progress in political sphere, the situation in trade and economic relations remains ambiguous. In 2017, trade turnover increased by 13.9% to $18.3 bln, but this indicator still does not meet either the scale of the economies of the two countries or the level of Russian-Japanese cooperation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Investment activity between the two countries also remains at a low level. The Russian Foreign Ministry added that over the past five years, the annual volume of direct investment from Japan to Russia fell from $757 mln to $18 mln. Thus, Moscow sees participation of Shinzo Abe in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as especially important in this regard. Peace treaty between the two countries will become one of the central themes of the meeting between the ministers. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the ministers will discuss the topic in the context of the agreement on the development of joint economic activities with Japan on the South Kuril Islands. Russia noted activation of cooperation with the Japanese side in the international arena. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the parties plan to exchange views on such international topics as the situation on the Korean peninsula, development of a new architecture of security and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, the Syrian issue. Russia will share its approaches to ensuring regional stability and security, and talks about risks associated with the deployment of US missile defense system elements in the Asia-Pacific region. Read more