TOKYO, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum scheduled to take place in Beijing in November, Hiroyuki Arai, member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (Japan’s parliament), told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
“The APEC summit will take place in November. Possibly, the meeting [between Putin and Abe] will take place on the sidelines of that forum,” Arai, who is a member of Japan’s New Reform Party (Shinto Kaikaku), said.
“Russia is a great country and it is our neighbor. Abe wants to form friendly relations with Russia,” Arai noted, also saying that there is “mutual sympathy” between the Japanese prime minister and the Russian President.
Arai recalled the readiness with which both Japan and Russia provided help to each other following the Chernobyl and the Fukushima nuclear disasters, and stressed that the two countries should expand their cooperation to other areas as well.
“Our countries should agree on further ways of cooperating in the field of natural gas, since Japan needs thermal power plants so as not to depend on nuclear energy. For Russia, the expansion of such cooperation not only with China and Europe could also be useful. Japan and Russia need to sign a peace treaty. When this happens, the entire world will become more stable,” Arai said.
On Monday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said that Abe held a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin and offered the Russian president to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
“Both leaders acknowledged the importance of continuing the dialogue between Japan and Russia,” Suga said at a press conference.
President Putin was scheduled to visit Japan this fall, but the specific dates of the visit have not been set. The dates of the visit of Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to Russia have not been set either. Kishida’s visit, which is supposed to precede Putin’s trip, was supposed to take place this spring but was postponed indefinitely amid the Ukrainian crisis.
In early August, the Japanese government implemented sanctions against 39 politicians and officials who represented the Republic of Crimea, as well as Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics.
Japan also implemented a ban on the import of goods from Crimea.
