Russia to wait 2 months for progress in joint isle activities

September 8, 2017

VLADIVOSTOK- Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev has said his country will wait for two months for concrete progress, such as participation by Japanese investors, to be made in joint economic activities on and around the four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands claimed by Japan.

If no progress is made during the two-month period, Russia will then start accepting investors from third countries to a special economic zone set for one of the four islands, he told a press conference Thursday to sum up a two-day annual meeting of the Russia-led Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok through the same day.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed in late August a decision to unilaterally designate the island, called Shikotan in Japan, as a special zone where preferential treatments, such as tax breaks, will be given.

Japan opposes companies from third countries operating on any of the islands under Russia's jurisdiction.

At their meeting in the Russian Far East city on Thursday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to take steps to realize joint economic activities on and near the islands in five areas, including tourism and fish farming.

The remarks by Trutnev, who takes charge of developing the Far East region, are believed to have been intended to prompt Japan to accelerate its efforts to push ahead with the initiative.

At the bilateral summit, Putin asked Abe to promote Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko, also in charge of economic cooperation with Russia, to a deputy prime minister, apparently reflecting his frustration at the current slow pace of progress in bilateral cooperation.

At the press conference, Trutnev said that Russia respects Japan's proposals on joint economic activities and that he hopes they will become formal.

While noting that he does not know how political negotiations on the islands will develop, Trutnev said that on the economic front, Russia will wait for only two months for progress in the bilateral initiative and later will try to find investors from Russia and around the world.

If activities on the islands by firms from countries other than Japan and Russia expand, that would likely complicate Japan-Russian negotiations on the territorial dispute, analysts said.

The islands, known collectively as the Northern Territories in Japan, were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War II. The dispute has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities. The three islands other than Shikotan are called Etorofu, the Habomais and Kunashiri in Japan. Jiji Press