Japan To Continue Negotiating Peace Treaty With Russia - Foreign Ministry

Japan to Continue Negotiating Peace Treaty With Russia - Foreign Ministry

The Japanese government, with its new head diplomat, will continue negotiating with Russia the territorial dispute around the Southern Kuril Islands as well as the signing of a peace treaty, Masato Otaka, the spokesman for the country's foreign ministry, said on Friday

TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) The Japanese government, with its new head diplomat, will continue negotiating with Russia the territorial dispute around the Southern Kuril Islands as well as the signing of a peace treaty, Masato Otaka, the spokesman for the country's foreign ministry, said on Friday.

Japan's newest foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, was appointed in September and has already met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly. Lavrov invited him to visit Russia during these talks.

"The government of Japan intends, while promoting cooperation with Russia in broad areas, which includes the eight-point 'cooperation plan,' to decisively continue negotiating with Russia in accordance with the main course on settling the territorial issue and signing a peace agreement," Otaka told Sputnik.

He mentioned that Japan was working on setting up a meeting between Motegi and Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' summit next week.

The spokesman also confirmed Motegi's intention to visit Russian this year under the right circumstances.

Russian-Japanese relations have long been complicated by the fact that the two nations never signed a permanent peace treaty after World War II, as there are still contradictions over a group of four Kuril islands that Russia has sovereignty over but that are also claimed by Japan.