Federation Council Speaker has held a meeting with Russian and Japanese regional governors.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko has held a meeting with Russian and Japanese regional governors. The event was also attended by Deputy Speaker Iliyas Umakhanov, Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Chair of the Advisory Council for the Promotion of Russian-Japanese Inter-Parliamentary and Interregional Cooperation Konstantin Kosachyov, and Member of the Federation Council Committee on House Rules and Parliamentary Governance, Head of the Federation Council’s Russia-Japan Cooperation Group Viktor Ozerov.
In recent years, Russian-Japanese cooperation has reached a qualitatively new level, in which the key role belongs to the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of Japan, Valentina Matvienko noted. “Thanks to their decision, the Council of Governors of Russia and Japan resumed its work and met just a day ago in Moscow.”
“A good basis for interregional cooperation has already been created,” she said while at the same time insisting on a thorough review of the implementation of existing agreements.
“The agreements already reached should not remain on paper. We need to make joint efforts to implement them, using the competitive advantages of both the Russian and Japanese regions to their maximum,” Valentina Matvienko pointed out.
The Federation Council Speaker went on to say that numerous contacts between the Russian and Japanese regions’ leaders and the two countries’ business associations have played a significant role in the development of interregional cooperation.
“The Interregional Cooperation Sub-Commission of the Russian-Japanese Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Issues meets regularly. The main spheres of interregional economic cooperation include energy and agriculture, engineering and the automotive industry, logging and timber, the development of transport logistics and infrastructure. There is great potential for joint projects involving advanced solutions for creating a people-friendly urban environment,” Valentina Matvienko said, suggesting that they actively disseminate that experience to other cities and regions of the Russian Federation.
She also pointed out the promising cooperation prospects between small and medium-sized enterprises of the two countries.
“In addition, we intend to step-up interregional cooperation in the field of medicine, transport, recycling household and industrial waste, and certainly high technology,” Valentina Matvienko said.
According to her, over the next few years, these and other spheres will be developed as part of major national projects implemented in Russia. They are planned until 2024 and provide additional opportunities for joint work between the regions of the Russian Federation and their partners from Japan.
“The expansion of humanitarian cooperation between our countries is also of great importance,” she added before touching upon the subject of mutual simplification of visa procedures, which should significantly increase the number of tourists.
Valentina Matvienko highlighted the positive momentum in inter-parliamentary relations between Russia and Japan, and praised the effective work of the Advisory Council for the Promotion of Russian-Japanese Inter-Parliamentary and Interregional Cooperation – the Russian partner of Japanese-Russian Liberal Democratic Party Discussion Club – and the Japan-Russia friendship parliamentary group, which includes members of both houses of the Japanese parliament and the Federation Council’s group for cooperation with the House of Councillors of Japan.
“These working groups have made significant efforts to resume the work of the Council of Governors,” Valentina Matvienko said.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko’s meeting with Japanese and Russian governors. Video of 14 May 2019
Valentina Matvienko expressed confidence that the inter-parliamentary cooperation between Russia and Japan will continue to play an important role in strengthening bilateral interregional ties.
In turn, President of the National Governor’s Association of Japan and Governor of Saitama Prefecture Kiyoshi Ueda thanked the Russian side for being so attentive. According to him, during the meeting of the Council of Governors, the Japanese representatives learned a lot about the Russian regions’ potential and specifics. He expressed readiness to expand and promote interregional ties.
During the meeting, the Russian and Japanese governors reported the results of the Russian-Japanese Council of Governors’ meeting held in Moscow.
The head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the governors of the Primorye and Khabarovsk Territories, the Ivanovo and Novgorod Regions, head of the Republic of Tatarstan, as well as the governors of the Ibaraki, Toyama, Okayama and Kagoshima Prefectures shared their detailed plans to expand interaction in environmental protection, transport logistics, tourism, culture and the arts.