Abe promises to visit Russia without delay for further progress in peace treaty talks

TOKYO, January 20. /TASS/. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pay a visit to Russia without delay for further progress in the issue of a peace treaty, he said at the opening of the national parliament's plenary session on Friday. "I shall pay a visit to Russia this year without delay in order to use the convenient occasion," he said, adding "settlement of the territory issue, which continues for more than 70 years now, is not easy." The prime minister promised "to move step by step towards signing of a peace treaty." On Wednesday, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said at a meeting with Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko, who is also in charge of economic relations with Russia, that Russia plans to receive Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe twice this year. "We face a very challenging task because outcomes of the visit of the Russian President to Japan are excellent but we have to work out two visits of Japan’s Prime Minister this year - in April and September. This is very serious," the Russian official said. During Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan on December 15-16, 2016, bilateral economic cooperation was among major issues on the agenda. Russia and Japan signed 68 agreements worth about 300 billion Yen (about $2.54 billion) of Japan’s investments and also 12 inter-government agreements. The visit and talks yielded a joint statement where the two leaders noted that "the start of consultations on joint economic activity of Russia and Japan on the South Kuril Islands may become an important step towards signing a peace treaty." Besides, the parties consider that the statement and any agreements reached on its basis on establishing joint economic activity and its implementation "cause no damage for the positions of Russia and Japan on the peace treaty issue." Russia and Japan have no peace treaty signed after World War II. The settlement of this problem inherited by Russia’s diplomacy from the Soviet Union is hampered by the years-long dispute over the four islands of Russia’s Southern Kuril Islands - Shikotan, Habomai, Iturup and Kunashir, which Japan calls its northern territories. After World War II, in September 1945, Japan signed its surrender, and in February 1946, the Kuril Islands were declared territories of the Soviet Union. In 1956, the USSR and Japan signed a Joint Declaration thus re-establishing bilateral diplomatic, trade and other kinds of relations after World War II. According to the document, the USSR unilaterally expressed readiness to return the Shikotan and Hamobai islands as a gesture of good will, but only after signing of a peace treaty. Read more