Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe has said summit talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin must take place in order for the countries to forge a peace treaty.
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“Without a summit meeting, this Northern Territories problem can not be resolved”, he said, according to the BBC.
The Yomiuri Shimbun In his New Year’s Reflection, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed a strong desire to realize three targets – a gross domestic product of ¥600 trillion, raising the “desired birthrate” to 1.8, and reducing to zero the number of people who have to leave their jobs to provide nursing care for relatives.
Whether Japan can accelerate inflation would depend on capital expenditure and wage growth, Abe said, maintaining his moral suasion on corporate Japan to make the investment needed to sustain a virtuous cycle of consumption and growth.
Abe intends to visit Russian Federation next spring, after he and Putin spoke informally at the recent G-7 conference about resolving the issue. Such an agreement is lacking between the two nations due to an ongoing dispute over four islands that historically belonged to Japan.
But Japan narrowly avoided a recession in 2015 and the latest vital signs were weak: Factory output fell in November, as did household spending and incomes.
The two powers ceased hostilities at the end of World War Two but did not formally conclude a peace pact because of territorial disputes over the Kuril Islands, which Japan refers to as its Northern Territories, the BBC reports.
The prime minister said he is not planning to dissolve the lower house of parliament, nor is he eyeing a snap election.
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.
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Abe said that the Bank of Japan and government’s bid to combat deflation since the introduction of his “Abenomics ” policies in 2012 have been positive and that deflation has been effectively tackled.
