While meeting a delegation of the Japanese Federation of Economic Organisations, President Putin stressed that this was the first such representative visit by Japanese business circles to Russia for the past 25 years. He expressed hope that the Japanese businessmen, who had made the many-day trip to several Russian regions at the invitation of the Russian President, would help expand economic ties between the two countries.
The aim of the visit was to see the economic situation in Russia, to study investment opportunities, and to search for new ways to expand economic cooperation between the two countries.
Mr Imai handed Mr Putin a message from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in which he called for the development of Russian-Japanese economic relations.