TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2019) Japanese Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday expressed hope for progress on the issue of conclusion a peace treaty between Russia and Japan in the upcoming talks of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Putin and Abe plan to discuss issues related to the Russia-Japan peace treaty on January 22 in Moscow.
"It is not easy to solve the problem of the Northern Territories [as Japan calls the Southern Kuril Islands] and conclusion of a peace treaty [with Russia] 70 years after the war," Kishida said, adding that he hoped for sufficient efforts to be made by the leaders to resolve the issue, as quoted by the NHK broadcaster.
Earlier this week, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held the first round of negotiations to discuss concluding a peace treaty between the two countries.
The Southern Kuril Islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, are at the heart of a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan. Tokyo lays claim to Kunashir, Iturup, Shikotan and the Habomai islets. The territorial dispute has prevented the two countries from signing a post-WWII peace treaty.
