Japan Wants to Sign a Peace Treaty With Russia After 70 Years

Speaking to reporters at his annual New Year’s news conference, Abe is vowing to use this year’s G7 summit in Japan to enhance Japan’s presence in global diplomacy.

“As its president, I would like to lead the world by looking to the future and showing the most appropriate paths for peace and prosperity of the region and the world”.

Abe is hosting a meeting of Group of Seven leaders in May. Putin met Abe on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Turkey in November.

Abe intends to visit Russian Federation next spring, after he and Putin spoke informally at the recent G-7 conference about resolving the issue.

“We both recognize that 70 years after the war’s end, to not have concluded a peace treaty is abnormal”, Abe said in a New Year address Monday in Tokyo.

“The issues related to the Northern Territories can not be resolved without exchanges between the leaders”, he added, referring to the Japanese appellation for the islands. Such an agreement is lacking between the two nations due to an ongoing dispute over four islands that historically belonged to Japan.

Putin’s visit to Japan long touted for late 2015 has been postponed indefinitely.

However, that was shelved after Japan joined numerous other countries in hitting Russian Federation with sanctions over its alleged involvement in Ukraine.

On the economic front, Abe pledged to defeat deflation.

“We have put the utmost priority on the economy for these three years”.

On matters of Constitutional reform, the prime minister said efforts in this regard will be stepped up and be one of the focal points of the upcoming election.

Abe marked 2016 as the first year for promoting the “dynamic engagement of all citizens” in the statement, which was released Friday, saying “creating a society in which all citizens are dynamically engaged is our responsibility to the next generation”.