Mr Putin visited the plant’s production facilities and looked at the final product – Toyota’s Camry model car.
Itiro Tiba, head of the Toyota Motor Corporation office in St Petersburg and one of the project’s directors, told the President about the plant’s history.
Speaking at a meeting with Toyota’s directors after visiting the plant, Mr Putin said that expanding trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Japan will help to strengthen bilateral relations in general and resolve the problems between the two countries.
The plant’s inauguration ceremony was attended by St Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, Economic Development and Trade Minister Elvira Nabiullina, former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, President of Toyota Motor Corporation Katsuaki Watanabe and head of the corporation’s St Petersburg office Itiro Tiba.