Statement by Yoshimitsu Kobayashi, Chairman of Keizai Doyukai
On Result of Japan-Russia Summit Talks

December 16, 2016

Yoshimitsu Kobayashi
Chairman, Keizai Doyukai

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1. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin have confirmed two nations’ joint efforts going forward toward the resolution of the strategic issues such as territorial disputes over the four northern islands after the repeated direct talks of two leaders. We welcome the result. Specifically, advancement was made in terms of defining the next phase to implement the joint economic activities in the four northern islands, which was recognized as a first step toward signing the peace treaty. We respect the efforts of Prime Minister Abe and all the officials involved with a series of coordination and negotiations.
2. We regret that the summit talks did not make a concrete progress for important pending issues such as the four northern islands territorial disputes and the peace treaty signing. We, however, hope that the result of the summit talks will lead to solve all the remaining issues at an early point in time through tireless negotiations in tandem with pursuing development and deepening of forward-looking bilateral relations.
3. Japan and Russia share the same strategic issue of the mutual economic development and Northeast Asia’s regional stability as neighboring nations. We expect that this summit talks will drive diverse exchanges in political, economic, and cultural fields, leading to the pursuit of common benefits and objectives by both nations. Meanwhile, we should figure out how we could contribute to them from the perspectives of a private sector.

Japanese version