Japan's Justice Minister Koizumi Ryuji said he would assist Ukraine in fighting corruption, noting that this issue needs to be resolved urgently so that Ukraine can receive more assistance from the international community.
Source. This was reported by NHK World Japan.
On Monday, during a visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Koizumi held talks with Ukrainian Justice Minister Denys Malyuska and Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.
According to the newspaper, widespread corruption among government officials is an obstacle to Ukraine receiving more international assistance in its fight against Russia.
During the talks, Koizumi and Maliuska signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in training investigative personnel and drafting legislation.
Maliuska thanked Japan for its economic, diplomatic and legal support, noting that the country is an important partner for Ukraine.
Koizumi said that from his talks with Ukrainian officials, he learned that fighting corruption is the most important task for Ukraine. He expressed Japan's readiness to assist Ukraine's campaign to fight corruption and reform legislation.
Koizumi noted that Ukraine's recovery depends on a fair and transparent distribution of reconstruction funds provided by the international community, the news agency quoted him as saying.
Background. As reported, Russia has threatened Japan with "the most decisive countermeasures" in case of transferring Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Moscow said that it would consider Tokyo hostile to Russia if Japanese missiles are transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.