A visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to Japan is scheduled to be held approximately in March-April next year, a Russian diplomatic source told on Friday.

An agreement on Mikhail Fradkov’s visit to Tokyo was officially reached just in November last year. Last April, the two countries’ Foreign Ministries adopted a decision to begin specific preparations of this visit which will be mainly devoted to economic ties between the two countries.

The holding of a regular meeting of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Issues in Tokyo will precede the prime minister’s arrival. On the part of the Russian side, it is headed by Minister of Fuel and Energy Viktor Khristenko, and on the part of Japan - - by Foreign Minister Taro Aso. The meeting is expected to be held in January or February.

Simultaneously, as the source said, an issue of a trip of Russian Vice Prime Minister, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov to Japan is being studied.

In January, he met with Chief of the Japanese National Defence Agency Fukushiro Nukaga who visited Moscow and now he plans to make a return visit. It can take place before the end of the current year.

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