Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, on September 21

Mr Minister, Japanese colleagues,

Welcome to Moscow, we are happy to see you.

We have not seen each other for more than a year and a half, a very long break for foreign ministers of two countries next door to each other who are important partners in the Asia-Pacific Region. This resumption of direct contacts gives us hope that we can finally begin working together to mitigate the difficult situation that has developed under the influence of factors not directly related to our bilateral relations. In our opinion, which I hope you share, this is important because there is still considerable untapped potential in many areas of practical cooperation.

Today I would like to reiterate the Russian Federation’s commitment to the development of the entire range of Russian-Japanese relations, to resolving some lingering issues between us as well as new ones that have emerged or rather that have been artificially created in recent years. I hope that today we can openly discuss our bilateral relations in a friendly atmosphere and exchange views on some important issues on the global and regional agendas.

Thank you again, and welcome!