The 13th Annual Meeting of the Japan-Russia Agreement on Incidents Prevention at Sea

April 17, 2007

The 13th Annual Meeting of the Russian and Japanese Agreement on Incidents Prevention at Sea will be held on April 24th (Tue) and 25th (Wed) in Moscow (at Russian Navy Headquarters).

The Meeting will be attended on the Japanese side by relevant officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense, headed by Mr. Takashi Kurai, Minister of Embassy of Japan in Russia; and on the Russian side by officials from Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by Vice Admiral Vladimir Pepelyaev, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff of the Russian Federation.

The Consultation will discuss such issues as the year-to-date situation regarding this Agreement and further measures to ensure safety.

The Agreement was signed when then President Yeltsin visited Japan in October 1993 for preventing incidents between vessels and airplanes of Japan’s Self Defense Forces and Russian forces, and ensuring safety. The Annual Meeting is held based on a provision in the Agreement. The necessity for this agreement is also referred to in the Japan-Russia Action Plan which was adopted between Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, then Prime Minister of Japan, and Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, during Mr. Koizumi’s visit to Russia in 2003.
The first Meeting was held in Moscow in December 1994, and it was held alternately in Tokyo and in Moscow up to the 12th Meeting in Tokyo last year.

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