The foreign ministers of Japan and Russia agreed Friday to cooperate closely toward progress in talks to settle a territorial row that has blocked the signing of a peace treaty to formally end the countries' World War II hostilities.
After their meeting in Rome, Taro Kono told reporters he had "in-depth" discussions with Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, on the path to concluding a bilateral peace treaty.
But Kono declined to comment on the substance of the talks, including whether any progress has been made on the territorial dispute.