View of Hokkaido from Kunashir IslandTOKYO, Jan 29 Opening ceremony of the Year of Russian-Japanese The Year of Russian-Japanese Interregional and Sister Cities Exchanges was held on Saturday in the city of Sapporo on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. in Osaka in 2019. However, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, in April 2020, the Japanese Foreign Ministry announced the postponement of the ceremony. Subsequently, both the Russian and Japanese sides supported the speedy holding of the event. «The coronavirus pandemic has made significant adjustments to these plans. Nevertheless, we are pleased to note that despite complexity, it was possible to successfully implement more than half of the 42 initiatives planned under this initiative, in particular, the meeting of the Subcommittee on Interregional Cooperation of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Issues, the preparation of agreements on cooperation between a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation and the prefectures of Japan, the tour of masters culture,» Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin said at the ceremony. In addition, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov spoke at the ceremony. in Japan, discussed with the leadership of Hokkaido the development of humanitarian x connections
