ANTALYA. Nov 16 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have conferred on trade and economic relations and possible bilateral contacts, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.
"Opinions were exchanged on a number of current issues in bilateral relations, primarily trade and economic cooperation. Putin regretted a decline in the bilateral trade turnover. He also said that Japanese companies were not losing interest under the present-day circumstances," Peskov said.
Japanese companies are not losing interest in the Russian market; quite the opposite, they carry on the existent projects and think about new ones, Peskov told reporters.
"[The sides] also spoke about interaction at the UN Security Council, considering the status of Japan as a non-permanent member, and discussed the theme of the visit [of Putin to Japan]. Vladimir Putin and Sinzho Abe agreed on further coordination of the time of this visit through diplomatic channels so that the visit could be paid already in the foreseeable future," he said.
"In turn, Putin said he would be also glad to see the Japanese prime minister in a Russian region," the Kremlin press secretary said.