Russian Foreign Ministry confirms Lavrov will visit Japan March 20-21

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay a working visit to Tokyo on March 20-21, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday. The ministry noted that Lavrov’s visit "will be a key stage of preparations for the upcoming visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Russia." "We hope to discuss with our Japanese counterparts in detail the entire range of bilateral issues in light of the implementation of the agreements reached during the Russian-Japanese summit in December 2016," the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. "We are satisfied with the intensification of Russian-Japanese political contacts. The strategic dialogue at the level of the first deputy foreign ministers has become regular, its 14th round will be held in Moscow on April 19. The third ‘two plus two’ meeting between the foreign and defense ministers is scheduled to be held in the second half of the year." During the talks is it planned to raise the issue of a peace treaty in light of implementing the leaders’ agreements on the joint economic activity on the southern Kuril Islands, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. "We are satisfied with the pace and content of the dialogue in this sphere. Work is underway to specify the projects in the five areas agreed on by the Russian and Japanese leaders (mariculture, wind energy, greenhouse facilities, waste disposal and the organization of package tours). The two sides are working to agree on the dates for the working groups’ second meeting," the ministry said. "We plan to exchange views on international issues like the situation on the Korean Peninsula, efforts to develop a new architecture of security and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, the Syrian issue and others. Russia’s approaches to ensuring regional stability and security will be outlined in detail," the ministry stressed. "We will once again draw our Japanese counterparts’ attention to the obvious risks linked to the deployment of the US missile defense systems in the Asia-Pacific region." The Russian minister will invite his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono to pay a visit to Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry added. Read more