Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Tokyo from May 11-13 on an official visit expected to focus on forging stronger economic and trade ties with Japan.
Putin and his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, will discuss the two countries' longstanding dispute over the Kuril Islands, economical cooperation and energy development, and prepare for a summit between President Dmitry Medvedev and Aso in July, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Takeo Kawamura, announced late last month.
Territorial disputes have long soured relations between the countries, and a peace treaty has not been signed, more than six decades after World War II. Neither country wants to be seen as making concessions to the other, and in Japan, comments from the political elite about a compromise are quickly shot down. In 2006, Putin's administration offered the return of two small islands, based on the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration signed in 1956. Government representative Shoutarou Yachi came under fire recently for making a controversial comment: "These two islands are only 7 per cent of the total area of the four islands, but if the area is split fairly between the two countries, three and a half seems a good compromise."
Dmitry Streltsov, head of the Oriental Studies Department at the Moscow University of International Relations (MGIMO) said that Russia had made its position clear by offering Japan the two smallest of the four disputed islands. "I do not expect any progress unless the Japanese react to our position. As far as I know, we are still waiting for a response."
Highlighting a difference of perception, the consensus in Japan is that it is Russia's turn to take the initiative.
Trade between the countries is growing, and business leaders on both sides have said they are optimistic about future ties.
"Despite the worldwide economic crisis, in the long term the Russian economy is bound to grow greatly. We hope the two countries can strengthen their ties and that the business environment for both will improve," said Tomozo Matsumoto, CEO of Panasonic CIS.
Masao Fujita, chairman of the Japan Business Club, stressed the importance of cooperation between the two countries: "Russia is on the Eurasian continent, so it is important not only how they relate to the West, but what ties they have in the East as well."
Anti-crisis measures will be discussed at an economic forum between the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) and Japan's Keidanren business lobby group. Putin is expected to attend, and Alexandr Shokhin, President of the RSPP, will lead the Russian business delegation.
Vyacheslav Lunin, executive secretary of the National Committee for the Development of Economic Relationship with Japan, who will accompany Shokhin during Putin's visit, commented that when Putin last went to Japan in 2005, bilateral trade stood at a mere $4 billion, and now it is $30 billion. "So I can only say that we all have very, very good expectations - and we'd like to see Japanese investors even more active here, and Russian companies in Japan as well. The biggest companies like Gazprom are present in Japan, but there are still very few." n
Several Russian regional governors are also going to Japan to meet their counterparts, and university rectors from both sides will meet to discuss student exchanges, said Strelsov, of MGIMO. "But economical cooperation is of the first importance," he said.
"The development of infrastructure and business in the Far East and Siberia, LNG delivery to Japan, Japanese cooperation for building a pipeline in Sakhalin, these are the matters we are most interested in."
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