On the first day of the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that gathered the leaders of 21 APEC countries, Putin told Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, at their first ever personal meeting, that Russia is ready to continue dialogue with Japan on a peace treaty and look for mutually acceptable ways to settle the problem.
A 60-year-old dispute over the ownership of four Kuril Range islands, off Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, has prevented the two nations from signing a peace treaty that would formally end their World War II hostilities. Tokyo wants Moscow to cede control over the territories, disputing the legitimacy of their annexation by the Soviet Union in 1945.
"We are continuing the dialogue on the peace treaty. We intend to keep cooperating on this issue. We will look for mutually acceptable ways to settle the dispute together with you," Putin said.
The Russian leader also said bilateral relations are at a high level and that Russia will create necessary conditions for cooperation on all directions.
"Trade turnover, humanitarian cooperation, reciprocal investments are growing," he said.
The Russian foreign minister said Saturday the Russian and Chinese leaders agreed to act in a coordinated way for the soonest possible resumption of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear problem.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to act on the North Korean problem in a determined and coordinated way, in order to resume the six-party talks as soon as possible," Sergei Lavrov told journalists.
The six-nation talks, involving North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States, were launched in 2003 to persuade North Korea to give up its controversial nuclear program after Pyongyang withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The talks stalled last November over Pyongyang's demand that the U.S. lift sanctions imposed on it for its alleged involvement in counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
North Korea announced it conducted its first nuclear test October 9, and threatened to take "physical measures" after the UN Security Council unanimously voted October 14 to pass a resolution imposing sanctions on the reclusive Communist state.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il told Chinese envoy Tang Jiaxuan during talks October 18-19 in Pyongyang that the country has no plans to conduct another nuclear test, but warned that "the country might take further action if pressure on North Korea continues."
"The situation should never lead to a deadlock," President Putin said October 25. "None of the negotiating parties should be driven into a corner, with no way out except by escalating tensions."
Putin said that diplomacy should be the only way for the international community to dissuade North Korea from further nuclear tests.
German Gref, Russia's economic development and trade minister, who is also attending the summit, said Russia and the U.S. will sign a protocol on Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization Sunday, and that multilateral talks on the accession will end in mid-2007.
"The signing of the protocol is expected tomorrow," Gref told journalists.
Russia has completed all bilateral talks on joining the WTO and will finish multilateral negotiations by next summer, the country's chief negotiator, Maksim Medvedkov, said Friday.
"To date Russia has ended all negotiations with WTO nations on access to commodity markets," Medvedkov said. "Now multilateral negotiations still remain, and we plan to finish those by next summer."
To join the organization, Russia must sign bilateral protocols with the United States, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Moldova, and renegotiate its entry with Georgia, which has withdrawn its signature.
Russia's eventual entry to the global trade body would encourage the country's trade with APEC economies, which have also been considering merging numerous bilateral free-trade agreements in the region into a single treaty.
A source in the Russian delegation said the leaders of the APEC countries have spoken for Russia's soonest joining the WTO.
Gref also said Russia has defended all principled positions to protect its market at the WTO accession talks with the U.S.
"We have managed to obtain the level of tariffs set as targeted on all positions that were of principle to us, including agriculture," Gref told journalists.
The minister said the last round of talks with the U.S. revolved round access to the financial services market, intellectual property rights protection and agriculture.
He said the line has not been drawn under the financial services issue though it was coordinated.
As for intellectual property rights protection, the economic development and trade minister said Russia will officially promise that the situation in the sphere will not deteriorate in the country but on the contrary, laws and their enforcement will be improved.
