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Japan, Russia agreed to advance talks on peace treaty - Abe

Japanese Prime Minister said he is confident that both states will be able to move towards the goal set step by step

OSAKA /Japan/, June 29. /TASS/. Moscow and Tokyo will continue to advance the negotiation process on a peace treaty, although it is not easy to resolve differences on the issue, which is already 70 years old, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said as part of a joint press statement after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"It’s not easy to eliminate differences on the 70-year-old problem. We understand the importance of signing a peace treaty, and we must take steps towards this. Today we have once again confirmed our determination to move the peace treaty negotiations forward," he said.

Abe said he is confident that both states will be able to move towards the goal set step by step.

The Japanese Prime Minister also said that Moscow and Tokyo recently "are expanding cooperation in such non-standard areas as the fight against drugs, cybersecurity and counter-terrorism."

Abe also announced his government plans to ease the visa regime for Russian businessmen from September.

"We are planning to soften the visa regime for Russian entrepreneurs from September of this year. This measure is especially for Russia," said Abe.

He also announced the opening of the "first year of interregional exchanges between Japan and Russia", which starts with the beginning of 2020.

Peace treaty issue

For many decades Moscow and Tokyo have been trying to work out a peace treaty on the results of the Second World War. The territorial dispute around the southern part of the Kuril Islands remains the main obstacle for the peace treaty. After the war, the entire was incorporated into the Soviet Union, but Japan disputed the status of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and a group of adjacent small uninhabited islands, claiming that they were Japanese territory.