MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the launching of a new Toyota Motor Corp. car factory near St. Petersburg later today, a Kremlin source told RIA Novosti. The factory that is expected to open in 2007 to produce up to 50,000 cars a year is described as a key bilateral economic event.
"The Toyota car factory is the largest foreign investment project in the history of St. Petersburg and will hopefully contribute to the economic development of the region," the Kremlin source said.
Toyota's activity in Russia indicates Japan's higher confidence in the Russian market, he said.
"This project will be a new step in implementing the Russian-Japanese plan to renovate the economic foundation of bilateral relations," the Kremlin source said.
Last year, Russia and Japan posted a record turnover of $7.36 billion according to Russian statistics (Japan set the figure at $8.85 billion), and it has been growing further this year.
Apart from the Russian president, chairman of Toyota Motor and of Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) Hiroshi Okuda and former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori will attend the ceremony.
