Japan seeks to build up ties with Russia to jointly solve global issues - PM

TOKYO, January 22. /TASS/. Tokyo plans to develop ties with Russia to jointly counter problems that the world community is facing, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the country’s parliament on Friday. "We want to build up relations with Russia to jointly solve various tasks that the world is facing," Abe said announcing his program at the 190th session of the Japanese parliament. "To solve the territorial dispute and sign a peace treaty we will strengthen relations step by step in a broad range of areas such as economy, energy and culture. We will look for any possibilities to build up the dialogue," the Japanese prime minister stressed. In his speech, the prime minister also mentioned the Ukrainian conflict. He also said Tokyo "attaches great importance to solidarity among the members of the G7." Japan is also set to further improve relations with its closest neighbors, namely China and South Korea, Abe said. Earlier on Friday, Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida underlined the importance of relations with Moscow. He has announced that a new post of a special representative on relations with Russia will be created in the government. Japan’s former ambassador to Russia, Chikahito Harada, will take up the post. "The development of relationship with Russia is one of the most important goals of our diplomacy. We hope that the new representative will make every effort to strengthen it," the foreign minister said. Speaking about the possible trip of Abe to Russia and also the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Japan, Kishida said no decision has been taken so far. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya in mid-November that the Japanese prime minister could visit one of Russia’s regions before Putin’s official visit to Tokyo. Peskov stressed that Putin’s visit to Japan "will be further discussed." The long-running dispute over the Southern Kuril Islands remains the main obstacle for the settlement in the relations between Russia and Japan and signing of the peace treaty. After the end of World War II, all the Kuril Islands were declared the territory of the Soviet Union. Japan claims Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai as part of its territory. Read more