TOKYO, October 15. /TASS/. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he hoped to have a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a forthcoming Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in the main northern Italian city of Milan. The Japanese premier said so at his Tokyo residence before going to an airport, from which he will fly to Italy for the ASEM summit due on October 16-17.

“I would like to create an opportunity for talks,” the premier said in reply to journalists’ questions about prospects of talks with the Russian leader in Milan.

Abe also noted that he intended to participate actively in ASEM talks on international problems, including affairs in the Middle East and spread of the Ebola virus disease.