Economics

01:13, 12.09.2007 | Russia

Russia, the world’s largest oil and gas exporter, has agreed to development projects to strengthen energy and economic ties with Japan.

President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also decided to continue talks on the disputed control of four islands off Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido that Russia seized at the end of World War II.
The two leaders, who met in Sydney on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit, endorsed a joint plan to develop eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, which have vast oil and gas reserves. Abe said it was “in the strategic interests of both Japan and Russia’’ to develop a partnership. Japan is seeking greater access to Russian energy to cut its dependence on Middle Eastern supplies. Russia wants to tap eastern fields to boost flagging output growth at traditional deposits. Japan will help modernize Russia’s railway system, including the trans-Siberian train network, according to an anonymous Japanese official.

- Bloomberg