Moscow to Back Russian Businessmen in Creating New Enterprises on Kuril Islands

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Morgulov says the country will provide support to businessmen wanting to develop new enterprises on the Southern Kuril islands.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Moscow will support Russian businessmen, interested in establishing new enterprises on the Southern Kuril islands, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Sunday.

"Today they are demonstrating high levels of interest in establishing new enterprises on Kurils. We will continue to support them also in the light of the extension of ties among Russia’s Far East regions and foreign partners, primarily from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region," Morgulov told the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper.

Morgulov stressed that the recent introduction of priority development area (PDA) on the Southern Kuril islands was aimed at "boosting the investment activity of Russian businessmen."

On August 23, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that he had signed a document on the establishment of PDA on the Southern Kuril islands. The Russian Far East Development Ministry said the PDA was expected to attract at least 10 billion rubles ($169.5 million at current exchange rates) in private investments

The Kuril Islands are the subject of a long-standing territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. Japan lays claims to the Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan islands and the Habomai group of islets. The dispute has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty after World War II.