A Russian envoy visited Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Friday to lay the groundwork for an upcoming summit between Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The envoy conveyed a message from Putin to Mori that preparations for the talks are well under way.
Victor Ishaev, governor of Khabarovskiy -- a state in the eastern part of Russia -- told Mori that Putin hopes to make the March 25 summit an opportunity to display an "affirmative relationship" between the two nations.
Mori replied by saying that he totally shares Putin's view, a Foreign Ministry official said.
The scheduled Mori-Putin summit in Irkutsk is aimed at resolving a lingering territorial dispute between Japan and Russia over a group of islands off Hokkaido. The issue has thus far proved to be a thorn in the postwar bilateral relationship.
During the 20-minute meeting at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, Ishaev, an influential politician who is said to be close to Putin, also relayed Putin's message that there will be no change in the summit's schedule.