It is possible to create an energy bridge between Russia’s Sakhalin Island and Japan to ensure cheap energy supplies, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Governor Tadashi Maeda said in an interview with the Sankei newspaper, published on Friday. However, according to him, the project will depend on the state of bilateral relations between the two countries.

According to the newspaper, experts earlier pointed to difficulties in delivering large amounts of cheap energy from northern Japan to the Tokyo area, where energy demand is high. However, given the possibility of using superconducting cables, such a project has become more feasible recently. At the same time, the JBIC governor pointed out that decisions concerning the project will be made based on the situation in peace treaty talks with Russia.

"Economic cooperation is only a tool," Maeda said. "Our task is to offer an effective system and the government will decide how to take advantage of this factor at talks," he added.

JBIC has been actively cooperating with Russia. In particular, the bank and the Russian Direct Investment Fund established a Russian-Japanese investment fund, which has already invested a total of $200 mln in three projects. An announcement about the fund’s activities was made at the Eastern Economic Forum, held in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok in September.

A memorandum on establishing a Russian-Japanese investment fund was signed in December 2016. The parties said they planned to focus on areas such as healthcare, the creation of smart cities, environment friendly technologies, the energy sector, cutting-edge technologies and industrial development. In addition, efforts to enhance the export capacity of Russia’s Far East and implement various initiatives aimed at boosting trade and economic ties between the two countries were also described as a top priority.