Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and President Dmitry Medvedev held their first one-on-one talks on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Muskoka, Canada, in late June. Kan told Medvedev that he would put an emphasis on relations with Russia, taking over similar efforts by his predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama. Both leaders agreed to seek progress on matters of mutual concern, most notably the unresolved dispute over the Northern Territories.
There is no question that Russia and Japan must work together as partners. With a landmass stretching from Europe to Asia, Russia requires partners both in the European Union and the Asia-Pacific region, which has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years. The Russian government has set development in Russia’s Far East and in East Siberia as a priority, and it is striving to integrate with the economies of the Asia-Pacific region. The construction of the first liquefied natural gas plant in Sakhalin through cooperation with Japanese businesses, and the export of gas produced there to Japan and other countries last year symbolized cooperation toward this end. Medvedev mentioned gas cooperation at the G8 talks.
