TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th May, 2020) Japan still intends to implement joint projects with Russia in the Southern Kuril Islands, a Russian territory which Tokyo claims as its own, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday.
In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reached an agreement on joint economic activities on the islands during a meeting in the city of Nagato.
"Based upon the agreement between [the] leaders at Nagato, We are hoping to implement projects in a way that does not undermine the legal positions of Japan and Russia," Motegi said during a press briefing, mentioning ongoing work on the contacts timeline being coordinated via diplomatic channels.
The relations between Moscow and Tokyo 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 islands and regards them as part of its Sakhalin region, but they are also claimed by Japan.
Since the beginning of his tenure as Japan's foreign minister in September, Motegi has been trying to increase the number of contacts with Russia. Among the main items on his agenda are negotiations with Moscow regarding the territorial dispute around the Southern Kuril Islands and signing a peace treaty.
