| Prime Minister Meets with Russian President
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori met with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, who was on an official working visit to Japan. The two leaders engaged in substantive talks regarding a bilateral peace treaty. They agreed to continue with efforts to conclude a peace treaty on the basis of the Tokyo Declaration by the year 2000, in accordance with the Krasnoyarsk Agreement of 1997; to continue negotiations to produce a peace treaty, based on all the agreements reached so far, through solution of the issue of sovereignty over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and Habomai; and to improve the efficiency of the negotiating process by taking more energetic steps to educate the public on the importance of a peace treaty. In addition to signing a statement incorporating these points, they signed a program to advance trade and economic cooperation between Japan and Russia and a joint statement on cooperation between Japan and Russia on international affairs expressing Russia's support for Japan's becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. |
