Japanese Foreign Minister To Attend Putin-Abe Talks On January 22 - Tokyo

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is expected to visit Russia next week to attend high-level talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2019) Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is expected to visit Russia next week to attend high-level talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Earlier this week, Kono and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held the first round of negotiations to discuss the issue of concluding a peace treaty between the two countries.

"Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is expected to visit the Russian Federation and Switzerland on January 21-25. In Russia, he will attend the summit talks between Japanese and Russian leaders slated for January 22," the ministry said in a press release.

The neighbors have been technically at war after failing to sign the post-WWII treaty over a land dispute. Japan claims sovereignty of a chain of four islands, called Southern Kurils in Russia.

Moscow and Tokyo signed a Joint Declaration in 1956 that provided for the restoration of bilateral relations and stipulated that the two would continue efforts to sign a permanent peace treaty and settle the island dispute. The Soviet Union pledged to consider handing over two islands to Japan.