Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to approve the plan when they meet Saturday in Moscow for talks and events promoting cultural exchange. Abe left Tokyo Thursday for Russia and will speak at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg Friday.
Tokyo and Moscow agreed in December 2016 to begin discussing joint economic activities on the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils. Last September, they set as their priorities five joint ventures, including aquaculture, tourism and wind power generation. Japan sent two private-public teams to conduct feasibility studies in June-July and October.
The latest research team will be dispatched as soon as this summer and will be private-sector led this time. It will study the feasibility of greenhouse cultivation for strawberries and sea urchin cultivation, narrowing down operational details and potential sites after surveying the islands and surrounding waters.