Japan and Russia promote cooperation on countermeasures against COVID-19

Mr. Kajiyama Hiroshi, Minister for Economic Cooperation with Russia, who is also the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Mr. Maksim Gennadyevich Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation held a videoconference on April 24, 2020 and agreed on continuing cooperation on countermeasures against COVID-19.

Both sides welcomed the initiative of the Japan-Russia joint investment framework (*) to support the joint project of manufacturing rapid test kits for COVID-19.

* The framework was established by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) under the Eight-Point Cooperation Plan in September 2017, where both sides invest up to 1 billion USD in cooperation projects between Japan and Russia.