Japan and Russia on Monday agreed to seek new ways to resolve territorial disputes by the end of this year, now that it appears unlikely the row over a group of islands off Hokkaido will be resolved in time to conclude a bilateral peace treaty this year as planned.
In vice-ministerial talks held in Tokyo, the two countries agreed that Foreign Minister Yohei Kono would visit Russia for four days beginning Nov. 1 to hold talks with his counterpart, Igor Ivanov, a Foreign Ministry official said.
They also agreed that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet in Brunei in mid-November during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting, the official said.