Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday that he would like to visit Russia soon for substantive talks on the long-pending peace treaty between the two nations
NAGOYA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Friday that he would like to visit Russia soon for substantive talks on the long-pending peace treaty between the two nations.
Motegi, who was appointed in September, met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly and was invited to visit Russia during these talks.
"You have invited me to visit Moscow. I would like to soon travel to Russia and hold substantive discussions, including peace treaty negotiations," Motegi said at the beginning of talks with Lavrov.
The Japanese top diplomat also praised a pilot trip of Japanese tourists to the southern Kuril islands disputed by Russia and Japan.
"I highly appreciate the implementation of a pilot tour to the four islands this month. We would like to implement the agreements reached between our leaders one by one and fully achieve the potential of the Japan-Russia ties. As foreign minister of Japan, I am ready to take all the efforts in order to achieve new levels of cooperation with you," Motegi stressed.
The bilateral meeting between the two top diplomats is taking place on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in the Japanese city of Nagoya. The event is the last ministerial meeting under the Japanese presidency of G20.
Russia and Japan have not signed a permanent peace treaty after the end of World War II mainly due to the dispute over a number of the Kuril Islands � referred to as the Southern Kurils by Russia and the Northern Territories by Japan � which remains one of the main stumbling blocks in the peace talks.
In November 2018, Moscow and Tokyo agreed to speed up the negotiations on the long-pending peace treaty.
