Lavrov, Kishida to keep close watch on implementation of Putin-Abe agreements

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida have held a telephone conversation to agree to keep close watch on progress in the implementation of the agreements concluded between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "The ministers expressed satisfaction over the active development of bilateral relations between Russia and Japan as a result of meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Sochi in May and in Vladivostok in September," the Russian Foreign Ministry said after the conversation held at the initiative of the Japanese side. "It was agreed the foreign ministers will keep close watch on the implementation of the achieved agreements." At a meeting with Putin in Sochi on May 6 Abe proposed an eight-point cooperation plan. It was approved is a basis and is now undergoing further consideration. Last time the two leaders met on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on September 2. Abe said afterwards that Putin’s visit to Japan was due at the end of this year. Putin and Abe will meet in Nagato, the Japanese prime minister’s hometown, on December 15. Read more