Hatoyama to attend int`l conference in Russia as Kan`s proxy

TOKYO, July 13 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Tuesday asked his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama to
attend in his place an international conference on economic and other issues to
be held in Russia in September and Hatoyama agreed, Japanese officials said.
The conference in Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, will be held in early
September, the month in which the ruling Democratic Party of Japan is scheduled
to hold its leadership election. Kan, current party leader, is under pressure
after the DPJ lost seats in Sunday's House of Councillors election.
A summit meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, which the two
governments had been working to arrange on the sidelines of the conference,
will not be held.
Noting that schedules, including whether the Diet will be in session at the
time of the conference, remain uncertain, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito
Sengoku said he believes Kan ''made the request after deeming Mr. Hatoyama to
be most suited to visit as he has a keen interest in issues related to
Russia.''
Hatoyama's grandfather, former Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama, signed the 1956
Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration that led to the resumption of bilateral ties.
Before stepping down as prime minister in early June, Hatoyama had shown his
eagerness to resolve a decades-old territorial dispute between Tokyo and
Moscow, which has prevented the two sides from signing a post-World War II
peace treaty.
==Kyodo