ANTALYA, November 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who met on Sunday on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit in Turkey’s Antalya, have agreed that contacts between the two countries have become more active in the recent period.

Putin recalled that he had met with Abe on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in September. "Since then, certain events have taken place demonstrating enlivened contacts between the two countries. The [Japanese] foreign minister paid a visit to Russia, contacts go on in the sphere of economics, although, regrettably, trade has considerably slumped," Putin said.

"However Japanese companies that have invested an aggregate of about 12 billion U.S. dollars into the Russian economy - and we see and feel it - are interested in further joint work and we are set to support them," the Russian leader noted.

The Japanese prime minister agreed with that point of view and said the dialogue with Putin would be useful to encourage close relations.