Russia-Japan Talks On Establishing Sakhalin-Hokkaido Visa-Free Regime To Continue - Moscow

Russia-Japan Talks on Establishing Sakhalin-Hokkaido Visa-Free Regime to Continue - Moscow

Talks on establishing the visa-free regime for citizens of Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin region and Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido will continue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Saturday

OSAKA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2019) Talks on establishing the visa-free regime for citizens of Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin region and Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido will continue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Saturday.

"We will continue negotiations on the Russian proposal to create the regime of free movement between residents of the Sakhalin region and Hokkaido prefecture," Morgulov told reporters when asked about the possibility of visa-free regime.

He noted that those negotiations had not officially started yet, but this issue was being discussed.

During his visit to Japan in 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed introducing a free border travel regime for residents of Sakhalin and Hokkaido as part of the visa facilitation efforts between the two countries.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in January that Russia and Japan had no reasons not to introduce visa-free travel, possibly starting with residents of Sakhalin and Hokkaido.