Treaty talks for Japan, Russia

Tokyo - The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, and the Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr Keizo Obu chi, agreed to start talks on signing a second World War peace treaty by 2000, following a summit accord earlier this month, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said. The two countries have not signed a second World War peace treaty because of a long-standing dispute over a group of small Russian-held islands north-east of Hokkaido, Japan's most northern main island.