Prime Minister: Ukraine favors continued cooperation with the Government of Japan and Japanese companies in implementing large-scale infrastructure projects

Ukraine praises the level of cooperation with Japan and pledges readiness to intensify cooperation with the Government of Japan and Japanese companies in implementing major projects, first and foremost, in infrastructure sector. This was stated by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during a meeting with the State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Kazuyuki NAKANE.

"We appreciate the principled position of the official Tokyo in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state," stressed Volodymyr Groysman, "We are committed to strengthening economic cooperation, in particular in carrying out major projects with Japanese companies."

The Prime Minister informed the interlocutor on key principles of the Government’s policy of reforms aimed at boosting economic growth and raising social standards. In turn, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs emphasized that Japan commended progress in Ukraine and is ready to continue supporting socio-economic changes in our country. Therefore, bilateral cooperation between the countries, including at the highest level, will develop, Japanese State Minister underlined. "I also want to inform that the Government of Japan has completed procedure on facilitation of the visa regime. Simplified conditions for obtaining visas for citizens of Ukraine will come into force on January 1, 2018," noted the State Minister," Apart from that, we are talking about the opening of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Ukraine in the near future."

During the negotiations, the parties confirmed common positions on a number of international issues. In particular, the State Minister reported on the continuation of sanctions policy against an aggressor country.

Background

This year Ukraine and Japan celebrate the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. This year has been marked by the deepening of bilateral relations at all levels. The Embassy of Japan in Ukraine made a significant contribution to this process.

Since the beginning of the year, trade turnover between the countries has increased by more than a third – to the tune of 592 million dollars. The volume of direct investments in the Ukrainian economy as a whole reaches 300 million dollars.

Key articles of Ukrainian exports to Japan are ores, slags, industrial tobacco substitutes, grain crops, aluminum and ferrous metals.

Japan is interested in the close geographical position of Ukraine to the European Union and the relatively low cost and high qualification of the labor force, the possibility of implementing joint projects, especially in the nuclear energy sector, as well as participation in the development of Ukrainian lithium deposits.

The parties are currently working on the possibility of implementing joint projects on the construction of highways and bridges in Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, construction of a bridge crossing across the Yuzhny Bug River in Mykolayiv, projects in the ports of Odessa, Kherson, Yuzhny, Chornomorsk, and Mykolaiv.

A promising area of cooperation is an energy sector, above all, within the framework of the implementation of the memorandum between Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation and National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom, as well as in the field of environmental protection and waste management, including in the framework of the Bortnytska aeration station.

The financial assistance to Ukraine is significant, during 2014-2017, the Government of Japan allocated funding for variety of programs to the tune of 1.7 billion dollars.