Russia and Japan to start talks on economic cooperation

Jan. 5, 1998 Japan and Russia are ready to start a series of talks designed to promote economic relations in line with the agreement reached during a November meeting between Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
The meetings will include energy consultations to be held in Moscow. The Moscow meeting will cover a project to develop oil and natural gas off the island of Sakhalin, north of Hokkaido, and a natural gas development project near Irkutsk, in the Russian Far East. Japanese negotiators will include senior officials from the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, and the Foreign Ministry.
Another round of negotiations is set for Tokyo by February to discuss Japan's cooperation to upgrade the distribution system centred on the trans-Siberian railway. Measures to help Russia's small businesses are also on the agenda of the Tokyo meeting.