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The Prime Minister Visits Russia Friday, April 25 to Saturday, April 26 2008 JAPANESE

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On April 25, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda visited Moscow, the capital of the Russian Federation, to meet Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, and Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister, the president elect of Russia. On April 26, Prime Minister Fukuda observed the Japanese Language Education Festival held at a school in Moscow. At the event, about 60 students who study Japanese language on a daily basis made presentations, and the Prime Minister presented them with a catalog of textbooks for Japanese language learning. Afterwards, Prime Minister Fukuda held talks with President Putin at one of the Presidential Residences. At their talks, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues, including the global warming issue, Northern Territories issue, abduction issue, and resource exploitation. They also agreed to have more frequent dialogues at the summit level, and to enhance their cooperation and coordination toward the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit to be held this July. Following this, Prime Minister Fukuda met First Deputy Prime Minister Medvedev at the Presidential Guesthouse. At the meeting, they agreed that Japan and Russia will enhance coordination in efforts to tackle the global warming issue, and also that they will hold a Japan-Russia Summit Meeting during the upcoming G8 Summit. At the interview held after the meeting, Prime Minister Fukuda said, "We had a very frank exchange of opinions. We discussed a variety of issues, beginning with the issue of a peace treaty. In particular, we took the first step toward establishing a broad and powerful relationship of cooperation by upgrading the Japan-Russia relationship to a higher level." Related link: Japan-Russia Relations (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)