| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
The Visit of Double Purpose
Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda arrives in Moscow today to meet President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, deliberate on forthcoming G8 summit in Hokkaido and clarify new power configuration of the neighboring country.
The main thing is to establish personal contracts, there are no plans to sign any agreements, a source with Japan’s Foreign Ministry said, specifying that Yasuo Fukuda will separately meet President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow.
The highlight of the meeting between Medvedev and Fukuda will be the summit that Hokkaido hosts July 7 through 9. During this event, the leaders of developed nations are expected to find some methods to combine the tasks of economic growth with expensive actions of environmental protection. EU calls for introducing new obligations for each state aimed at drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, while the United States avoid any promises, saying it will be able to contain the emission growth only by 2025.
The views of Japan near the EU, but Tokyo cannot ignore Washington, so the environmental discussion is likely to suffer fiasco during the summit. In this respect, the standing of Moscow appears of particular interest.
Fukuda will deliberate on bilateral relations with Vladimir Putin, the sources specify. Those relations are booming now. The trade has grown several fold; it surpassed $21 billion past year and may set a record this year.
Another concern of Fukuda in Moscow is promotion of joint economic development of the Eastern Siberia and Far East, mostly in the field of energy cooperation, including the oil and gas fields. As to the so-called Northern Territories, which are the South Kuril Islands in Russia, the prime minister will mention this topic of course, but he isn’t expected to pressurize.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 25, 2008
|
|
|
