NEW YORK (Kyodo) Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed Wednesday that the decades-old dispute over the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido should be resolved and a World War II peace treaty signed during the lifetime of the present generation, Japanese officials said.
"It is a minus for both countries" that they have not been able to conclude a peace treaty in the five decades since World War II, Hatoyama was quoted as telling Medvedev in their first talks.
Hatoyama and Medvedev, meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, agreed to hold regular foreign ministers' meetings to discuss the territorial dispute and other bilateral matters, the Japanese officials said. They did not elaborate on how often the foreign ministers will meet.
Arrangements are under way for the two leaders to meet again in November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore, the officials said.
They also agreed to establish what Hatoyama called a "win-win relationship" by cooperating on developing technology to exploit the natural resources in Sakhalin and Siberia.
Medvedev said last November he had no intention of leaving the territorial dispute to future generations and that it can be settled if leaders have sufficient determination.
Referring to these remarks, Hatoyama said he hopes Medvedev will show leadership in settling the dispute and signing a peace treaty, the Japanese officials said.
The territorial row over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty.
The two countries failed to make any headway on the sovereignty issue during the previous bilateral summit, between then Prime Minister Taro Aso and Medvedev on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Italy in July.