The Japanese government is set to continue relations with Russia in the coming year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday during his address to parliament.
“During the next year, declared the Year of Japan and Russia in our countries, we intend to continue actively developing ties with Russia in various domains,” he said. “This applies to intensive negotiations on the issue of sovereignty over the four northern islands [Japan’s name for Russia’s Southern Kurils], and on signing of a peace treaty.”
He added that Moscow and Tokyo are actively developing the issue of joint Russian-Japanese business activities on Southern Kurils.
After a meeting with Abe in Vladivostok on September 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin said diplomats from the two countries have selected a number of projects to be carried out jointly on the Kuril Islands, including in aquaculture, wind power, waste processing, tourism and the creation of greenhouse facilities.