Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed hope in a meeting with Russia's deputy prime minister over the weekend for progress in bilateral talks this week on concluding a post-World War II peace treaty.
"I welcome Japan and Russia having high-level exchanges," Abe told Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich when they met Sunday in Kyoto on the sidelines of an international conference on science and technology, the government said.
The meeting followed a summit between Abe and President Vladimir Putin last week in New York in which they agreed to continue efforts to resolve the long-standing territorial row that has prevented the two countries from concluding a peace treaty to officially end the war.
Dvorkovich said during the meeting with Abe that Russia and Japan should further enhance economic cooperation.
The countries will restart deputy foreign ministerial-level talks in Moscow on Thursday amid the row over the four Russian-held isles off Hokkaido. The negotiations have been suspended since January 2014.