ニュース 2010/02/24 Takashima meets with Russian Federal Assembly International Affairs Committee Chair On February 24, DPJ Senior Vice Secretary General Yoshimitsu Takashima met with the Chairman of the Russian Federal Assembly International Affairs Committee, Mikhail Vitalyevich Margelov, at party headquarters. The meeting was also attended by International Department Director General Yukihisa Fujita. At the start of the meeting, Takashima welcomed Margelov, and told him that he had visited Russia in October of the previous year, along with the President of the House of Councillors Satsuki Eda. He touched on the fact that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had had close ties with Russia since his grandfather’s time, and expressed the willingness to promote friendly bilateral relations under a DPJ government. Both sides shared the opinion that having enhanced the friendly relations between Japan and Russia, it was important to further economic, cultural and parliamentary exchanges, and also to strengthen exchanges between the youth of both countries. Margelov stated that traffic congestion was a significant issue in large cities, but that Japanese technology had made great contributions in this area. He stressed that “Russia and Japan enjoy friendly relations, and I would like to work actively to strengthen these relations.” In response, Takashima said, “I would like to convey the thinking and the situation in Russia to DPJ Diet members through such exchanges as this one here today.”