MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Japanese State Minister for National Defense Shigeru Ishiba will pay an official visit to Moscow on January 13.
"At the negotiations the Japanese military official is to hold with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, security in the Asian Pacific region and on the Korean Peninsula will be discussed," a source with the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday.
The two will also touch upon the two countries' cooperation in the defense sphere, the source said.
Ishiba, who is scheduled to stay in Moscow until January 15, is also to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and visit a military unit located in the Moscow military district.
Japan will be invited to the large-scale exercises involving army, law enforcement, and security agencies that Russia plans to conduct in the Far East in August 2003. "It is expected that Japanese warships will take part in the maneuvers," the source said.