Around 100 businesses each from Japan and Ukraine are expected to participate in a conference later this month in Tokyo to promote the recovery of the Eastern European country, under invasion from Russia since February 2022, sources close to the matter said Saturday.

Ahead of the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Reconstruction on Feb. 19, Tokyo is considering measures for promoting Japanese companies to launch businesses in Ukraine, in order to help the war-torn country's reconstruction, the sources said.

Among the steps being considered, the Japanese government is looking to ease travel restrictions, allowing some business people to visit Ukraine in response to voices from the private sector that the evacuation advisory, in place since the full-scale invasion began, has hindered investment into the country, they said.

Ukraine is subject to Japan's strictest travel advisory, which urges all Japanese nationals to evacuate and not to travel there.

The conference in Tokyo comes amid growing concerns that support for Ukraine's defense from Western countries may dwindle as Feb. 24, the second anniversary of Moscow's invasion, approaches.

At the meeting, Japan will aim to show its commitment to supporting Kyiv through public-private cooperation in energy, agriculture and infrastructure, as the provision of military assistance is restricted under its war-renouncing Constitution.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will outline Tokyo's plans to help Ukraine's reconstruction at the conference, the sources said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to deliver a video message to the conference, while its Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal is scheduled to take part in person to pitch the war-hit country's needs.

Ambassadors to Japan from other Group of Seven advanced economies and Poland, which neighbors Ukraine and has been supporting Kyiv, are also planning to attend the meeting, the sources added.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in January when she visited Ukraine that Japan aims to ensure more than 10 memorandums of cooperation are signed in the public and private sectors with Ukraine at the Tokyo conference.

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