Rustam Galeev took part in the opening ceremony of the Russian-Japanese interregional and twinning exchanges Year

The event took place in a hybrid format - online and offline on January 29.

Representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, ambassadors extraordinary, attended it and plenipotentiary from both sides, heads of Japanese prefectures and Russian regions. Deputy Head of Ufa City Administration Rustam Galeev represented the capital of Bashkortostan.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Reshetnikov addressed the participants of the solemn ceremony with video messages, noting that today 80 constituent entities of Russia maintain trade and economic ties with the Land of the Rising Sun, seeking comfortable conditions for the work of investors.

In turn, the Russian Ambassador to Japan, Mikhail Galuzin, expressed hope that the forthcoming events would create a solid foundation for intensifying mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and Japan in various fields.

«It is necessary to encourage and support the aspirations of local authorities to resume contacts as the pandemic is overcome,» the Russian ambassador added. He specifically pointed out the special importance of interregional contacts for strengthening mutual understanding and trust between the peoples of our states.

«In recent years, we have recorded the growing interest of the Japanese regions in establishing cooperation with the constituent entities of the Russian Federation - not only with the Far East, but also with the European part of our country. Currently, 49 administrative entities of Japan are covered by sister city relations or cooperation agreements with Russia, the diplomat informed.

At the end of the opening ceremony, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan signed an addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding regarding Russian-Japanese interregional and sister city exchanges.

It should be noted that Russia and Japan announced their decision to hold the Year of Interregional and Sister City Exchanges 2020-2021 during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan for the G-20 Summit in Osaka in 2019. However, due to the difficult epidemiological situation, the opening ceremony in Sapporo was postponed.

In November 2021, during the 10th meeting of the Subcommittee on Interregional Cooperation of the Russian-Japanese Intergovernmental Commission, it was decided to extend the Year of Russian-Japanese Interregional and Sister City Exchanges until the end of 2022.

Ufa continues to strengthen external ties and develop sister city relations with cities of various states. The capital of Bashkortostan has 10 sister cities: Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti, Africa), Halle (Germany), Ankara (Turkey), Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Minsk (Belarus), Nanchang, Hefei, Qiqihar and Shenyang (China).

Ufa also has 13 foreign and 14 Russian partner cities, with which a regular exchange of delegations is carried out. In total, at the moment the city has 56 signed agreements on cooperation and the establishment of twinning relations.