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Japanese Foreign Minister Visits Russia
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura began a four-day official visit to Russia this weekend. He held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko today. The visit is in preparation of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's visit to Russia and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Japan. Komura began his visit in St. Petersburg at the Toyota assembly plant there, where he met St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko.
Kazuo Kodama, press secretary to the Japanese minister, noting that Komura would meet with Lavrov and Khristenko, who is also cochairman of the Russian-Japanese commission on economic cooperation, added that “for relations to reach a new level, the ministers must agree on making specific progress in signing a peace treaty.” However, Tokyo has become more stringent in its attitude toward the disputed Kurile Islands, and Russian President Vladimir Putin told former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori when they met at the Toyota plant last December that Russia was not willing to go beyond the 1956 Soviet-Japanese declaration, which envisaged the return of Shikotan Island and the Habomai Rocks in return for a peace treaty. Therefore, no new progress is expected during this visit.
The Japanese prime minister's visit begins April 26. Medvedev and Fukuda are to meet during the G8 summit on Hokkaido Island. Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin stated at the last G8 summit that Russia wanted to become a full member of the G8 in finances at the Hokkaido summit. That topic may also be discussed by Komura during this visit.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 14, 2008
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