(VOVworld) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin met Monday in Indonesia to discuss their bilateral territorial dispute on the sidelines of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. The two leaders agreed to build mutual trust on resolving the dispute related to the Southern Kurils in Russia, known as the Northern territories in Japan, which has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty since World War II.

Both leader hailed improvements in bilateral co-operation in recent years. Photo: AFP

Putin said Russia wants to discuss the issue thoroughly at the two-plus-two meeting in November. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are scheduled to visit Tokyo next month for the "two-plus-two" meeting with their Japanese counterparts, Fumio Kishida and Itsunori Onodera. The countries will continue territorial talks at the level of senior officials, which were held most recently in August.