TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2020) Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi held a meeting on Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference and said that the bilateral dialogue had entered another phase, when the sides communicate in a more positive way, rather than oppose each other.
"I held a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which lasted for about an hour. As for the talks on the peace treaty, I conveyed my ideas regarding the further promotion of the dialogue in a more specific way. I believe that the phase [of negotiations] is changing. Instead of confronting each other with the Russian side, we turned to a more positive discussion, including working together on how to resolve the differences on basic issues. And I would like to continue the dialogue this way," Motegi said after the meeting.
The Japanese foreign minister added that he had invited Lavrov to visit Japan in the near future, noting that the "terms are being negotiated."
Russian-Japanese relations have long been complicated by the fact that the two nations have never signed a permanent WWII peace treaty. The main issue holding the two countries back is their dispute over a group of four Kuril islands � Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Habomai. Russia has sovereignty over these islets, but they are also claimed by Japan.
In December 2016, during his visit to Japan, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to search for the possibilities of joint economic activities in the southern Kuril Islands.
Moscow and Tokyo are currently making effort to finalize a permanent peace treaty. Yet, the two sides have not yet overcome their differences. Russia insists that its sovereignty over the Kurils, which legally became a part of the USSR following World War II, is undisputed.
In December, Putin sent a New Year message to the Japanese prime minister saying that he would be glad to see Abe at the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in Moscow.
