Japan, Russia to discuss peace treaty in June
May 7, 2016, 8:13 pm

Although Abe, right, made progress in talks with Rosneft, the issue of the Kuril islands is to be discussed in June [Xinhua]

The two sides discussed Japanese investments in the processing of hydrocarbons and how to deliver Russian oil to the Asian economic giant.

They also discussed how to increase joint projects.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who met with Abe on Friday, earlier said that Japan was an important partner in Asia and the Pacific but said that a number of outstanding issues needed to be carefully discussed between both countries.

“Perhaps, owing to this circumstance, we should pay special attention to the construction of relations and their maintenance at a high level,” the Russian leader said in remarks carried by the TASS Russian news agency.

But it was a a nearly 70-year territorial dispute stemming from the final days of World War II that figured prominently during the two leaders’ talks.

The two leaders expressed hope that they could finally put the dispute to bed and sign a peace treaty which has eluded them ever since Russian troops seized a number of Japanese islands – known as Kuril (or Kurilskiye ostrova in Russian) – in the summer of 1945.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later said that the two countries will likely hold consultations to move closer to signing a peace treaty at the level of deputy foreign ministers in June.

There have been stumbling blocks which hindered resolution of the dispute in the past. Russia says it wants to sign a peace treaty before resolving the Kuril Islands dispute.

Japan, on the other hand, wants the islands issue resolved before agreeing to sign a peace treaty.

Abe and Putin also discussed North Korea’s recent ballistic missile tests and how to improve security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Putin accepted Abe’s invitation to visit Japan in the near future.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies