"The whole world is aware of the achievements of Japan in the hi-tech field, in certain industries, where Japan has been and remains the absolute leader. Of course, we are interested in [joint] work in this field," Putin said at the meeting with representatives of Japanese businesses on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
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He added that Japan was one of Russia’s priority partners for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
"Japan is certainly one of our priority partners for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, but not only in Asia. We would like our relations with Japan to be global," Putin noted.
According to the Russian president, the current mood in the relations between Russia and Japan gives hope for a multifold increase in investment and trade between the countries, Moscow is ready to create all conditions for that to happen.
"The mood that exists now in Russian-Japanese relations gives me every reason to express hope that the volume of investments, and it is rather modest — some $2 billion by Japan into the Russian economy, and the volume of trade — it is also modest, about $18 billion in the past year — all this can be multiplied manifold," Putin said during the "Business Dialogue: Russia-Japan" session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
SPIEF, held annually in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg, is a major global platform for communication between business representatives and the discussion of crucial economic issues. The event started on Thursday and will continue through Saturday.
Sputnik is the official media partner of the forum.