Russia, Japan Might Start Visa-Free Travel With Sakhalin, Hokkaido Residents - Sergey Lavrov

Russia and Japan have no reasons not to introduce visa-free travel, possibly starting with residents of Russia's island of Sakhalin and nearby Japan's island of Hokkaido, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th January, 2019) Russia and Japan have no reasons not to introduce visa-free travel, possibly starting with residents of Russia's island of Sakhalin and nearby Japan's island of Hokkaido, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono launched negotiations on the issue of signing a peace treaty between the two countries. The two ministers later continued discussions during a lunch.

"We have drawn the attention of our colleagues to the fact that over the past years Russia has offered many initiatives to either facilitate movement of certain categories of citizens businessmen, tourists, participants of sports and cultural events and introduction of visa-free travel.

This is our global objective. We believe that there are no reasons for Russia and Japan not to introduce visa-free travel, beginning, for example, with residents of Sakhalin and Hokkaido," Lavrov told reporters after the talks.