Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is to visit Russia before Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to Japan, scheduled for December.

Kishida and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in New York on Wednesday. They agreed to accelerate preparations for Putin to travel to Japan for a summit, Japan's broadcaster (NHK World) reported Thursday.

Kishida stressed that steady progress is needed to conclude a peace treaty between the countries. The ministers agreed to meet again in Russia to press ahead with negotiations, including talks on a territorial dispute.

Russia controls four islands that Japan claims are an inherent part of its territory. Japan says the islands were illegally occupied after World War Two. The nations have never signed a peace treaty because of the dispute.

The ministers also affirmed that Russia's first deputy prime minister will visit Japan in November. Igor Shuvalov is to attend an inter-governmental panel meeting to promote economic cooperation.     Kishida and Lavrov also agreed to arrange a meeting of vice-ministerial level diplomats for a strategic dialogue on pending issues.

Earlier in the day, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed with US Vice President Joe Biden to maintain close communications between their nations over relations with Russia. Abe met Biden in New York. The US vice president called for the talks.

Abe explained Putin's visit to Japan. He said he sincerely hopes to resolve the territorial dispute. The prime minister also said Japan will keep in place economic sanctions against Russia over the situation in Ukraine. He said he is determined to maintain solidarity with the other Group of 7 countries over the issue. 

Biden is quoted as saying that he is certain Abe will deal with the issue prudently.

SourcE : QNA