Japan to focus on healthcare, urban development in ties with Russia — economy minister

TOKYO, April 26. /TASS/. The government of Japan is going to pay particular attention to health care and municipal economy when implementing its large-scale cooperation program with Russia, Japan’s Economy Minister Hiroshige Seko told TASS in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. "We are paying particular attention to healthcare and municipal economy, the areas where Russian residents can directly feel advantages of our program," the minister said. Japan intends to perform research work in Russia’s Voronezh city on integrated transport development along with development of areas near stations and the railway implementation program, Seko said. "Pilot projects on implementation of smart traffic lights system and model housing are progressing. We would like to contribute to development of even more comfortable city districts in Russia by using Japanese technologies and developments," he added. System to tackle economic challenges Russia and Japan has already developed a system making possible to overcome difficulties arising in the course of economic cooperation, according to Seko. "Over 80 projects of Russian-Japanese cooperation were approved and formalized as documents last December," the minister said. "Various tasks appear in the course of making them more specific, which should be resolved in the sphere of financing, identification of various procedures, etc… It seems to me a system making possible to overcome arising difficulties has already been established," Seko said. "It is important that as many Russian residents as possible understand: cooperation with Japan contributes to improvement of their quality of life," the minister added.