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| Map of the Kuril Islands |
TOKYO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Japan and Russia on Friday agreed to schedule a date for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in a move Tokyo hopes will help improve bilateral ties with Moscow and see both sides move closer towards settling a long-held territorial dispute.
"We will compile a solution acceptable to both sides. We held a positive debate that will give a boost to the negotiations going forward," Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a press briefing following talks with his Russian equivalent Sergey Lavrov.
Officials here have said that Abe will almost certainly visit Sochi in Russia, located on the Black Sea and host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, early next month, for talks with Putin, with hopes that Putin will pay a return visit to Japan thereafter.
Following Abe's upcoming meeting with Putin, Kishida and Lavrov agreed that additional senior officials' meetings will be held to further discuss the territorial dispute between both nations, although fundamental difference on the issue still remain.
Read the full story at Xinhua