Abe, Putin agree to strengthen investments, exchanges in Far East

September 7, 2017

Vladivostok- Japan and Russia on Thursday concluded agreements to strengthen bilateral exchanges and investment in Russia's Far East under the two countries' eight-point economic cooperation plan.

The documents, covering 56 public and private projects, were a result of a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok the same day.

The agreements are aimed mainly at boosting investment in the Far Eastern region through the expansion of bilateral economic and cultural exchanges at municipal levels.

With the agreements, the total number of Japan-Russia economic cooperation documents concluded in line with the eight-point plan exceeded 150, including those inked on the occasions of the previous two Abe-Putin summits, held in December last year and April this year.

Tokyo hopes to lay the groundwork for territorial talks over the Russian-held four northwestern Pacific islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan, by giving cooperation in projects closely linked to Russian residents of the disputed islands, officials said.

In Vladivostok, leaders of the Russian province of Sakhalin and Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido agreed to bolster trade and investment for industrial promotion in Russia's Far East.

A similar agreement was struck also between top officials of the coastal territory of Primorsky, which includes Vladivostok, and the central Japan prefecture of Toyama.

Tokyo and Moscow also signed a draft of a planned wholesale revision to the bilateral tax treaty, inked in 1986 between Japan and the now-defunct Soviet Union.

Under the revision, designed to promote investment in Russia, the country will lower the limit on the rate of its tax on profits Japanese firms earn through investment in Russia to 5 pct from 15 pct.

The two countries are also expected to promote joint research in nuclear power, energy efficiency and other fields of science and technology, as well as human exchanges between Japanese and Russian universities.

Also planned are cooperation in many other areas, including medical care for elderly people, postal services, agriculture, finance, transportation and small business promotion. Jiji Press