OREANDA-NEWS. September 27, 2011. On September 20, 2011, Moscow’s Skolkovo School of Management hosted the second meeting of the Russo-Japanese Consultative Council on the Modernization of the Russian Economy, chaired by Arkady Dvorkovich, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation, and Chikahito Harada, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Russian Federation.

Participants discussed the outlook for bilateral projects in the areas of energy efficiency, medical and information technologies, interbank cooperation, and joint projects for creating high-tech manufacturing in Russia.

At the meeting were Mikhail Abyzov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, E4 Group; Oleg Budargin, Chairman of the Management Board, Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (FSK EES); Oleg Deripaska, CEO of Basic Element; Alexander Provotorov, President of Rostelecom; Igor Zyuzin, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mechel; Motoyuki Oka, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sumitomo Corporation; Yuichi Asano, President of Gas Turbine & Machinery Company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Senior Vice-President of Kawasaki Heavy Industries; Shoichi Ikuta, Member of the Board of Directors and Regional CEO for the CIS, Marubeni; Fuminobu Kawashima, Senior Executive Managing Officer and Representative Director, Mitsui & Co.; Kenichi Matsumoto, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sakura Global Holding Co., and other representatives from the Russian and Japanese business communities.

That same day, Hideo Kitamura and Igor Kostin, the heads of Toshiba and Silovye Mashiny (Power Machines) respectively, signed an agreement on the creation of a joint venture in St. Petersburg to produce power transformers. The co-chairs of the council also held a number of meetings with representatives of Russian and Japanese companies. These proved valuable for exchanging opinions on specific projects and discussing possible pathways for mutually beneficial cooperation, as well as steps that the governments of Russia and Japan should take to promote bilateral cooperation in these areas.