Meeting of Russian Far East-Hokkaido commission cancelled

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, March 15 (Itar-Tass) - A meeting of the permanent mixed commission for economic cooperation between three regions of the Russian Far East and Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan has been cancelled because of the natural calamity in Japan, a representative of the external relations and protocol department of the government of the Sakhalin Region told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Representatives of the Sakhalin Region, the Primorsky Territory and the Khabarovsk Territory, as well as of Hokkaido Prefecture were expected to attend a meeting of the commission, planned to be held in Sapporo, Japan, on March 16.
The permanent mixed commission was created within the framework of an agreement on friendly partnership between Hokkaido and the Russian Federation, signed in 1990. Its meetings permit to promptly settle problems, connected with foreign trade between the regions of the Russian Far East and Hokkaido Prefecture in the course of joint consultations.
Three economic cooperation programmes were put into effect by the
Russian Far East and Hokkaido during the period of work of the commission.
Transport infrastructure was created between the Japanese island and the Russian Far Eastern regions. The Sakhalin offshore oil and gas deposits are being developed. Tourism is developing and exchanges of specialists are going on within their framework.