Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed Monday to increase security and economic cooperation despite the 60-year territorial row over the four Russian-held islands off northern Hokkaido.
The trip is Putin's first visit to Japan since September 2000 but the positions of both nations on the territorial row remain too far apart to make any significant progress.
At a news conference after their summit, Koizumi and Putin said they agreed to make future efforts to resolve the dispute, which has been haunting the two nations since the end of World War II.
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