Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Russian President-elect Dmitry Medvedev agreed on Tuesday over telephone to continue bilateral summit talks over a territorial dispute for the conclusion of a peace treaty.
During the 10-minute talk later in the day, Fukuda expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Russian side to seek concrete progress in resolving the territorial dispute and to liftthe Japan-Russia relationship to a higher level, Japanese media reported.
For his part, Medvedev said Russia is ready to continue talks with Japan on the difficult territorial issue. He also pledged to fully cooperate with the Japanese government for the success of the Group of Eight summit slated for July in northern Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture.
Territorial dispute over the four islands off Hokkaido, namely, Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and Habomai, has been a long-standing block in the development of ties between Japan and Russia.
The islands are now known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia.
The four islands were occupied by Soviet troops after the end of World War II and are currently under Russian control. Japan and Russia did not sign peace treaty following the war because of the dispute.
Source:Xinhua
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