Abe arrives in Russian Far East

September 6, 2017

VLADIVOSTOK- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok on Wednesday afternoon to attend a Russia-hosted Eastern Economic Forum conference. On Thursday, Abe is set to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the regional conference.

The two leaders are expected to have discussions on proposed joint economic activities on the four disputed northwestern Pacific islands and on ways to respond to North Korea's sixth nuclear test on Sunday.

Before his departure for Russia, Abe told reporters in Tokyo, "I'm hoping to give more shape to joint economic activities and free visits by former residents (to the four islands), with the aim of making progress on the peace treaty issue."

Japan claims the four islands, which were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of World War II. The territorial dispute has prevented the two countries from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities.

On North Korea, Abe plans to seek cooperation from Russia for the adoption of a new UN Security Council resolution to toughen sanctions against Pyongyang.

"We must convince North Korea that following the current path will not lead to a bright future and make the country change its policies," Abe told reporters. In Vladivostok, Abe will also hold talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday.

Japan and Russia are expected to agree on five priority projects to be implemented as part of their proposed joint economic activities on northwestern Pacific islands at the center of a bilateral territorial row, Japanese government officials said Wednesday.

The agreement will likely be reached whenAbe and Putin hold talksThursday, according to the officials.

When Abe and Putin met in Japan in December last year, they agreed to launch talks on joint economic activities on the four Russian-held islands under a special framework that will not undermine the two countries' respective legal positions on the islands.

The Japanese and Russian governments then moved forward with the selection of specific joint economic projects and agreed on five items for priority activities--seafood farming, greenhouse vegetable cultivation, tourism utilizing island features, wind power generation and garbage reduction measures, the officials said.

In addition to affirming the five items, Abe and Putin are expected to agree to conduct field studies on the islands to decide details of the projects.

Abe hopes to promote bilateral confidence-building through the joint activities, in order to gain a foothold for resolving the decades-old territorial dispute between Tokyo and Moscow.

The biggest challenge will be how Japan and Russia, both claiming sovereignty over the four islands, establish legal grounds for the joint activities. Jiji Press