Japan and Russia agreed to reinvigorate bilateral trade and economic ties by focusing on the Russian Far East, a place where the two countries can best benefit each other, government officials said June 9.
Boris Nemtsov, first deputy prime minister for Russia, visited Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda and Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka in Tokyo on June 9 during the second meeting of the Japanese-Russian joint committee on trade and economic ties.
At the Foreign Ministry, Nemtsov, who assumed his post in early March, told Ikeda that Russia considers Japanese investment, especially in such sectors as energy and marine products, crucial to building bilateral economic ties, ministry officials said. The two agreed that the focus of improvement in the two countries' economic relations would be Russia's Far East, which is rich in lumber and other resources, the officials said.