Secretary-General Nakagawa exchanges opinions with Russian delegates

February 7, 2007

 

Secretary-General Hidenao Nakagawa exchanged views on Feb 7th with a visiting Russian delegation headed by Vyacheslav Nikonov, president of the United Fund for Russia. The delegation was visiting Japan to attend a high-level expert symposium on Japan-Russia relations held on Feb. 5-6th. Welcoming the delegation Secretary-General Nakagawa stated, “Prime Minister Abe places great emphasis on the relationship with our neighbor, Russia. Party officials fully endorse his efforts in this regard.” Delegation leader Nikonov responded, “We in turn recognize Japan as an important neighbor of ours; and we welcome friendly relations between the United Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party.” Secretary-General Nakagawa and Mr. Nikonov ended their talks by agreeing to strengthen Japan-Russia relations by building trust at various levels and exploring the enormous potential of the relationship, including stronger economic ties. In recent years, LDP and United Russia have exchanged visits to build the relationship between members of the two parties, the most recent example being the visit of the LDP delegation led by former Secretary-General Tsutomu Takebe to attend the United Russia Party Congress held at Yekaterinburg in December 2006.