MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Moscow expects that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono’s visit to Russia will allow bilateral relations to reach an absolutely new level, Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov said opening talks with his Japanese counterpart.

"Mr. minister, I’m glad to welcome you in Moscow, this is already our third meeting over the past four months," Lavrov said. "This is because our leaders meet very often."

"Our key task now is that our contacts with you do not remain just contacts, but produce real results, which bring our relations to a totally new level," Lavrov stressed. "I’m convinced that today’s visit will enable us to do this."

According to Lavrov, each meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe results in reaching important agreements. "And we need to maintain contacts to ensure the implementation of what was agreed by the president and the prime minister," Lavrov said.

The recent meeting between Putin and Abe in Vietnam’s Da Nang on November 10 was devoted to a detailed discussion of all areas of our cooperation and they noted progress in most fields, Lavrov noted.