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© RIA Novosti. Ekaterina Chesnokova
Japan could offer Russia the organization of cruises in the North-Eastern tip of Hokkaido and the Russian South Kuril Islands, the cultivation of seafood and conducting remote medical consultations during the meeting at the level of Deputy foreign Ministers Igor Morgulov and Takeo Akiba on Saturday, the newspaper “Yomiuri”.
Earlier it was reported that Japan proposes five areas for the development of joint economic activities on southern Kuriles, about the beginning of the study which was agreed at the meeting of the leaders of the two countries in December during the visit of Vladimir Putin to Japan. Is tourism, fisheries, seafood breeding, ecology and medicine.
According to the newspaper “Yomiuri”, proposals on joint development of tourism will include the organization of cruises, including a visit to the natural Park of Shiretoko in the North-East of the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Islands of the South Kuril Islands. The development of this area involves the construction of comfortable hotels and tourism infrastructure.
As the newspaper notes, Japan will also propose the establishment of enterprises for the cultivation of scallops and sea urchins in the waters of the South Kuril Islands. A separate area should be fishing. The project combines activities in the field of health involves the establishment of a platform for remote examination and diagnosis of Japanese doctors the residents of the South Kuril Islands on the Internet.
The first official negotiations on joint economic activities on southern Kuriles in the framework of the agreements reached between Russia and Japan during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be at the level of Deputy foreign Ministers Igor Morgulov and Takeo Akiba on March 18.
Agreement to discuss the possibility of joint economic activities on Southern Kuriles was reached at the Russian-Japanese summit during a visit to Japan by Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 15-16 2016. Then on 7 February, foreign Minister Fumio Kishida at the first meeting of a specially created in the Ministry of foreign Affairs of Japan Council on joint economic activities called her primary areas: fishing, tourism, health and the environment.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly expressed the view that joint economic activities on Southern Kuriles will be a step forward for a peace Treaty between the two countries — one of the main problems in Russian-Japanese relations. Tokyo links the signing of the peace Treaty with the solution of territorial disputes — Japan claims the Islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and Habomai, referring to bilateral Treatise on trade and borders of 1855.
The return of the Islands Tokyo made it a condition of signing a peace Treaty with Russia, which after the Second world war and was not signed. Moscow’s position is that the southern Kuril Islands became part of the Soviet Union at the end of the Second world war and the Russian sovereignty over them with appropriate international legal design, not subject to doubt.