Opening Remarks at the Russian-Japanese Economic Cooperation Forum.Part 2 November 21, 2005 Tokyo Вступительное слово на Российско-японском форуме экономического сотрудничества 21 ноября 2005 года Токио The implementation of new currency and customs regulation laws are also giving our economy a boost. I want to emphasise that these laws are completely in conformity with international standards and with the norms established by the World Trade Organisation. We have made access to Russian companies and mineral resources more transparent, including for foreign investors. Work is intensifying on implementing the targeted programmes for developing the Far East, a region that has traditionally drawn the attention of our Japanese partners. A group of Russian government ministers visited the Far East on my instructions just recently and, based on the results of their visit, we are drawing up additional measures to support this region and accelerate its development. Russia is becoming ever more closely integrated into the world economy. At the same time, the flow of direct foreign investment into the Russian economy is increasing. Direct foreign investment rose by a third in 2004 and came to $10 billion. We hope that this years result will be considerably higher again. Our financial and banking systems are growing stronger and capitalisation of the corporate securities market is increasing and indeed reached a record level this year. I stress that international experts view the Russian stock market as one of the most promising and fast-developing markets in the world. We place great importance on developing cooperation through working together in the multilateral economic organisations. In this respect, I would like to note the successful conclusion of Russian-Japanese talks on our countrys accession to the World Trade Organisation. I am absolutely convinced that Russias accession to this influential organisation will also help to strengthen our business ties with Japan, making them more stable and predictable. Your country is one of Russias major trading partners. It is pleasing to see that our two countries have made serious progress in developing business cooperation over recent years. The Russian-Japanese Joint Action Plan, adopted in 2003, has played an important part in making this progress possible. Above all, I want to note the considerable increase in our bilateral trade. In 2004, for the first time in the last decade, our trade reached a figure of just over $7.5 billion, and I think that this year we should reach a figure of more than $10 billion. This is still not a big figure for countries like Russia and Japan, but it shows a positive growth trend. The start of construction of the Toyota assembly plant near St Petersburg marks a big step forward in industrial cooperation. Major decisions are also under preparation in the banking sector. I am referring here to the plans for agreements between Vneshtorgbank and Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank, and between the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation with Vnesheconombank, Roseximbank, and also with Sberbank. At the same time, however, raw materials and low value-added goods continue to dominate in Russias exports to Japan. Investment cooperation is also not progressing as well as we would like. Japanese direct investment in the Russian economy has increased over recent years, but as a share of total accumulated investment it barely exceeds 1 percent. This situation clearly does not reflect the considerable economic potential of both Japan and the Russian Federation.
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