Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, Volodymyr Lytvyn will make an official visit to Japan on March 7-11.
The parliament’s press service said that Lytvyn is to meet with Emperor of Japan Akihito and hold negotiations with Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihiko Noda and Chairman of the House of Representatives in the Japanese parliament Takahiro Yokomichi.
Lytvyn will also hold meetings with the leadership of the Council on Foreign Relations, and members of the Committee for Economic Co-operation with Ukraine of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren).
The parliamentary delegation from Ukraine will also visit Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. Lytvyn will meet with the governor of Fukushima Prefecture Yuhei Sato and representatives of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of Japan and Tokyo Electric Power Company TEPCO.
The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada is also planning to visit the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant and Mitazono No. 2 district in Natori, where new houses were constructed for those affected by the March 11, 2011 earthquake, and the Yuriage area in Natori, which was hit by the subsequent tsunami.
Lytvyn will commemorate those killed during the earthquake to mark the anniversary of the tragedy.
The chairman of the Ukrainian parliament and Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine Toiti Sakata discussed details of the upcoming visit during a meeting on Tuesday. Lytvyn said he hoped that a visit of a Ukrainian delegation to Japan would intensify relations between the states.
"We very much appreciate the chance to be with you on the anniversary of the tragedy at Fukushima and demonstrate the solidarity of our countries and peoples. I hope that this will become an appeal to the whole world to focus more on the issue of nuclear safety," Lytvyn said.
In turn, Sakata said the visit of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to the areas affected by the accident at Fukushima, the earthquake and tsunami would "strengthen the spiritual connection between our peoples."
