Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov agreed Wednesday to continue to seek a mutually acceptable resolution to a longstanding territorial dispute.
After meeting with visiting Russian foreign minister, Nakasone said: "We agreed that we are both determined to move forward at the foreign ministerial level so as to reach a final solution."
Lavrov, for his part, said: "We shared the consensus that we will uphold the agreement between our leaders to seek a resolution that is mutually acceptable to both peoples in Japan and Russia. We are ready for such dialogue and to further improve mutual trust and understanding."
The two sides also agreed to arrange for Prime Minister Taro Aso and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit later this month,
The territorial dispute over the four islands off Hokkaido has long been a stumbling block in the development of relations between Russia and Japan, and preventing them from sealing a peace treaty after World War II.
The four islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kurils in Russia, were taken by Soviet troops at the end of World War II and are currently under Russian control.
Source: Xinhua
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