Russian president-elect looks forward to continuing dialogue with Japanese PM

Russian President-Elect Dmitriy Medvedev has told Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda that he is sure that Russia and Japan can continue their dialogue, state-controlled Russian Channel One TV reported on 26 April.

The channel's main Vremya news bulletin at 1700 gmt carried a report on Fukuda's visit to Moscow, which included brief footage of him meeting Medvedev.

It showed Medvedev addressing Fukuda as follows: "Mr Prime Minister, I am pleased to meet you and to have the chance to get to know you. I would like to separately thank you for the congratulations on my election to the post of president - the written note of congratulations and the telephone call. I am sure that we will be able to continue the discussions that started in Japan, discussions of our bilateral relations and also issues on the international agenda, first and foremost the G8 summit, which will be taking place on Hokkaido in Japan."

Fukuda replied that he had come to Moscow to discuss issues related to the G8, Channel One reported.

The correspondent concluded the report by saying that Medvedev and Fukuda will have to get to know each other better, and that they will have to hold "painstaking talks" to improve relations between the two countries.

Earlier the report had referred to the fact that Russia and Japan had not concluded a peace treaty "because of a problem that is extremely painful for Russia and Japan - the territorial dispute concerning what our country calls the Southern Kuril Islands and what the Japanese call the northern territories".

Source: Channel One TV, Moscow, in Russian 1700 gmt 26 Apr 08

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