Photo:
© RIA Novosti / Sergey Krasnouhov
Representatives from 32 Japanese companies and government agencies will visit Kunashiri and other Islands of the South Kuril Islands in the expert group, which will have to explore the possibilities for joint economic activities between the two countries on the Islands, told broadcaster NHK.
The group, which will go to the Islands on July 27 for five days, includes employees of the foreign Ministry, the Ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as private business representatives of the tourist and fishing industry, health-care and construction. The delegation will be headed by the special assistant to the Prime Minister of Japan eiichi Hasegawa.
The group will begin the visit to Kunashir island, and then visit all of the plan objects, which are recognized as promising for joint economic activity, agreement on which was reached during the visit to Japan of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in December 2016. Scheduled meetings with Sakhalin region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako.
Agreement to discuss the possibility of joint economic activities on southern Kuriles was reached at the Russian-Japanese summit in December 2016. In February 2017, the Japanese foreign Minister Fumio Kishida called her primary areas: fishing, tourism, health and the environment.
In April, during a visit to Moscow, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, the two leaders agreed on the direction of the southern Kuril Islands joint group of government officials and business representatives that could on the spot study of promising areas for joint cooperation.
Tokyo believes 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. Japan connects 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.
The position of Moscow consists that southern Kuriles 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.