He arrived in the Russian Far East on Sunday with a group of experts to discuss the recycling of decommissioned nuclear submarines of the Pacific Fleet.
A substantial contribution to the further development of good-neighbourly relations between the two countries, the politician believes, can also be made by a Russian-Japanese programme for scrapping the decommissioned submarines of the Pacific Fleet.
"The government of Japan has already allocated 180 million dollars for the realisation of this major and important military and environmental project," said Kazunori.
While in Primorye, Kazunori and the group of experts held negotiations in Vladivostok with Admiral Viktor Fyodorov, commander of the Pacific Fleet, and Victor Gorchakov, vice-governor of Primorye Territory.
The Japanese delegation visited the town of Bolshoi Kamen, where at the Zvezda shipyard recycling nuclear submarines, it got acquainted with progress in the disposal of Victor 3 Class nuclear submarines, according to NATO classification.
In the current year, with financial support from Japan, Zvezda is already scrapping the first Victor 3 submarine. The dismantling of the next nuclear submarine is planned for 2005.
On Wednesday the Japanese delegation led by Kazunori went on to Kamchatka, where it plans to see a Pacific Fleet nuclear submarine base and a centre for repairs and recycling of nuclear submarines.
All in all, there are more than 40 decommissioned submarines of the Russian Pacific Fleet waiting for disposal.
Kazunori also expressed Tokyo's interest in the development of international oil and gas projects Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2. The Japanese government has already assigned 200 million dollars for their implementation.
