Naryshkin and Matviyenko to visit Japan this year - Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin and Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko will visit Japan this year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. "One of the most dynamically developing directions of Russian-Japanese ties is traditionally cultural exchange," the foreign ministry said. "The peoples of the two countries demonstrate great mutual interest in each other’s cultures, finding many common grounds here," the ministry added. One of the established channels of such contacts is the annual Festival of Russian Culture in Japan, "the opening ceremony of which is planned for June this year," the foreign ministry said. "It is expected that among participants will be the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Sergey Naryshkin. This visit, as well as the trip of the Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko to Japan planned for the second half of the year, will become important events in bilateral inter-parliamentary exchanges and set a direction for their future development," the foreign ministry said. Read more