Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and acting Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Friday their dedication to work toward the early realization of a summit meeting, hopefully before the July Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, a Foreign Ministry official said. In a 20-minute telephone conversation, Putin also said that Moscow will adhere to policies set by former President Boris Yeltsin and Japanese leaders in recent years to enhance bilateral ties in various fields, the official said. It was the first conversation between the two since Yeltsin abruptly resigned on New Year's Eve and appointed Putin as acting president. Obuchi said he wants to meet with Putin as early as possible so they can exchange views on a wide range of bilateral and global issues, the official said. Putin told Obuchi that the planned visit to Japan next month by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is part of Russia's efforts to keep the Japan-Russia dialogue intact, the official said. Japanese officials interpret Putin's remark as a clear message that Russia intends to fully observe a series of agreements reached by Yeltsin and Japanese prime ministers to move forward on stalled negotiations to conclude a bilateral peace treaty. Such agreements include the 1993 Tokyo Declaration and the 1997 Krasnoyarsk Agreement. Based on these agreements and other accords in recent years, Japan and Russia have pledged to resolve their decades-long territorial row centering on Russian-held islands off Hokkaido and sign a peace treaty by the end of this year. Japan had been assessing Russia's stance on the peace treaty negotiations since Yeltsin's resignation.
