Russia sincerely wants to resolve all issues in the bilateral relations with Japan, including signing of the long-pending peace treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday
NAGOYA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) Russia sincerely wants to resolve all issues in the bilateral relations with Japan, including signing of the long-pending peace treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
"Japan is our neighbor, and we are interested in developing good-neighbourly relations in all areas without exception, as agreed by President [Vladimir] Putin and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. And we sincerely want to resolve all the remaining bilateral issues, including, of course, the peace treaty," Lavrov said at the beginning of talks with his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi.
The top Russian diplomat noted the importance of taking bilateral relations to the new level, in particular cooperation in economy and foreign affairs.
"With qualitatively advanced relations, it would be much easier to solve any problems. I am ready to closely cooperate with you and your team in order to move forward in this direction," Lavrov said, adding that he was looking forward to more detailed discussions during Motegi's forthcoming visit to Russia.
Motegi, who was appointed as foreign minister in September, already met with Lavrov on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly and was invited to visit Russia during these talks.
The latest 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.
