TOKYO -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to discuss with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their summit Thursday in Moscow ways to enhance economic ties and realize joint economic activities on the disputed islands in a step to conclude a peace treaty.
The talks, the leaders' 17th overall and the first since the summit in December, could be overshadowed by their difference in approaching the issue of North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs and comes amid deteriorated ties between the United States and Russia over the Syrian crisis.
Abe hopes his repeated talks with Putin will eventually lead to a breakthrough in the long-standing row over Russian-held, Japanese-claimed islands off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, which has prevented the two countries from signing a post-World War II peace treaty.
Abe told a gathering in Tokyo on Tuesday he hopes to "make progress on the issue of the peace treaty."
"I hope to have a meeting that would lead to Russia's constructive cooperation toward resolving issues such as those of the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East," he said.
In the upcoming talks, the leaders are expected to confirm a speedup in talks on joint economic activities on the disputed islands in areas such as fisheries and tourism, an initiative they agreed to launch at their summit in December.
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