Japan foreign minister may visit Russia in May

Tokyo, March 3: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso may visit Russia in early May, a newspaper said today, as Tokyo and Moscow aim to strengthen economic ties while working to resolve a decades-old territorial dispute.

Japanese and Russian officials were making final arrangements for Aso to visit Russia from May 3, the Sankei Shimbun daily said, citing government sources.

Japan's Foreign Ministry was unavailable for comment.

An Aso visit was agreed on earlier this week at a meeting in Tokyo between Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The two also agreed that Russian First Deputy premiers Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov should visit Tokyo, although no date was set.

Tokyo and Moscow have long been embroiled in a dispute over four sparsely populated islands off northern Japan which has prevented the two sides from signing a World War Two peace treaty more than 60 years after the fighting ended.

Soviet troops overran the islands known in Japan as the Northern Territories, and in Russia as the Southern Kuriles -- in the closing days of the war and they remain in Russian hands.

The issue has overshadowed efforts by the two countries to strengthen ties. Russia is keen for funds to develop its Far East regions while Japan is eager to tap Russia's booming oil industry to reduce its reliance on the Middle East for its energy needs.

Reuters>