On the 1-2 November the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, will visit Japan on a working visit. He will conduct negotiations with the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fumio Kishida.

Sergey Lavrov will participate in the first round,in the history of our bilateral relations, of consultations in the 2+2 format (between foreign ministers and defence ministers of the two countries), which will be conducted according to the agreement between the leaders of Russia and Japan, reached during the official visit of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to Moscow.

The formation of a complex, comprehensive security system in the Asia-Pacific region, based on out-of-bloc approaches and consideration of the interests of all interested parties, is one of the key priorities of Russian foreign policy. We need a transparent and constructive dialogue to create an effective and legitimate system, which is able to support stability and security at the proper level.

Japan, one of the leading regional power states, and our neighbour in the APR, showed interest in such a dialogue. In welcoming the disposition of Tokyo to deepen our coordination on key regional and global problems, the Russian party agreed to hold 2+2 consultations.

We proceed from the importance of explaining our principled approaches towards the creation of a new security architecture in the APR to the Japanese. We intend to provide our partners with our assessments and concerns in relation to the Japanese-American plans to create a regional ABM. In Tokyo, we are ready to discuss the prospects of extending our exchanges and contacts in the military sphere, believing that interaction in this area contributes to trust building between our countries and positively affects security building in the region, primarily in North-East Asia.

The main purpose of the negotiations between foreign ministers is to conduct a substantial and profound discussion of topical issues on the bilateral agenda and problems in interaction in international affairs, to set out specific ways of promoting our bilateral cooperation in the spirit of the Joint Statement on the development of a Russian-Japanese partnership, which was adopted by the leaders of Russia and Japan in April in Moscow. The Plan of mutual consultations of foreign ministries for 2014-2015 will be signed as a result of this visit, which will give a new impulse to the intensification of interaction between the foreign services of the two countries.

The problem of the peace treaty between Russia and Japan will also be touched upon. The favourable atmosphere in relations between the two countries allowed the leaders to come to an agreement on the renewal of the relevant negotiations. Preliminary consultations between deputy foreign ministers were held in August in Moscow. We believe that a mutually acceptable decision on this issue may be found only as a result of active joint efforts for all-round development of our bilateral relations for the purposes of bringing them to a level of true partnership.

The discussion of international and regional problems will focus on identification of the possibilities of interaction between Russia and Japan, primarily in issues of security and cooperation in the APR, including in multilateral areas like the East Asia Summits, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the ASEAN Regional Forum for security, the Asia-Europe dialogue forum. We see opportunities for joint steps to contribute to the settlement of the situation in Syria, as well as the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula. We intend to deepen Russian-Japanese interaction within the framework of the G8 and the G20.

Our relations with Tokyo are among the priorities of Russian foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region. We expect that these negotiations will allow us to reinforce the positive atmosphere, which has been established between Russia and Japan over the last few years, and will give an impulse to further advancement of our practical cooperation, including in the areas of modernisation and innovation.

Japan is one of the ten leading economic partners of Russia. Our bilateral turnover of goods has been growingdynamically of late. There are reasons to believe that it will exceed 32 billion US dollars in 2013. In 2012, this number was 31.2 billion US dollars. The joint volume of accumulated Japanese investments in the Russian economy reached 11 billion US dollars.

There are good opportunities for the promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation in the area of energy, including in the Russian Far East. The implementation of projects in this area will allow Russia to export its products with high added value and to build up industrial potential, and Japan – to diversify its imports of energy carriers and to receive additional volumes of hydrocarbons.

Topics like the activation of cultural ties in the context of preparation for and holding of the Festival of Russian Culture – 2014 in Japan, as well as the development of contacts between people, including youth exchanges, which are important for the strengthening of bilateral relations, will not be left unattended to. The closing ceremony of the Festival-2013 is scheduled for the 11 December, and a Russian delegation will come to Tokyo to participate.

30 October 2013