OREANDA-NEWS. On 01 July 2009 was announced, that Anatoly Chubais, Director General of the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, and Toshihiro Nikai, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, had agreed to establish a workgroup for cooperation in the field of nanotechnology. The decision was made at a meeting during a visit to Japan by a delegation of RUSNANO. The initiative for the agreement was issued by the Japanese.

According to RUSNANO’s Director General, the main focus of the interaction will be the selection of specific projects from Japanese partners’ applications to be implemented in Russia jointly with RUSNANO. The parties also discussed how to expand business cooperation to include smaller companies specializing in the development of state-of-the-art technology alongside large corporations in the sector. If small businesses participate in the bilateral process, this could become a “separate line of interest”, believes Anatoly Chubais.

“We addressed the possibility of arranging a workshop for such companies in Japan, in order to make it clear, by engaging in straightforward discussion, how exactly to work with us,” he said.

According to Anatoly Chubais, the Japanese side of the group will be headed by Hideiti Okada, Director General of the Ministry’s Trade Policy Department. The Russian section will be chaired by Alexander Losyukov, RUSNANO Deputy Director General, former Russian ambassador to Japan.

During the visit to Japan, RUSNANO’s delegation held consultations on cooperation with such major corporations as Hitachi, Toshiba, Sumitomo; engaged conversation at Keidanren, the Japanese Business Federation; and visited the academic City of Tsukuba, a center for up and coming R&D, including nanotechnology.

According to RUSNANO’s Director General, the Nanotechnology International Forum could become another important platform for dialogue on improving the partnership relationship with Japan. The First Forum took place in Moscow in December of 2008, attracting over 9,000 business representatives and scholars from more than 30 countries.

“Currently, arrangements are being made for the Second Moscow Forum, scheduled for October 6-8, 2009,” said Anatoly Chubais. “We have invited our Japanese partners, including senior officers from the Ministry of Economy and a number of large companies, as well as representatives from the Japanese academic community.”