Tue, Nov 22, 2005 page5

• Japan agrees to back Russia's WTO bid

  SLIGHT THAW While a territorial dispute has been hampering their relations for years, the leaders of the two countries inked bilateral cooperation pacts in a variety of fields

  • AP
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  Japan agreed yesterday to back Russia's bid to join the WTO, as leaders of the two countries promised to work toward resolving a territorial dispute that has hampered relations for 60 years.

  Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also endorsed a joint program to combat terrorism while other officials signed bilateral agreements on cooperation in energy, communications and tourism and other fields.

  Their summit focused largely on economic ties, which the leaders said would help pave the way toward progress in the dispute over four tiny, sparsely populated islands that has prevented the nations from signing a World War II peace treaty.

  

  Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi shake hands in Tokyo yesterday prior to signing an agreement on combating international terrorism. On Putin's first visit in five years, Japan and Russia agreed to keep talking on the status of four Russian-ruled islands and made progress on the most contested economic issue: a Siberian oil pipeline Japan desperately seeks.

  PHOTO: AFP

  The islets in the Kuril chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, were seized by Soviet troops in the closing days of the conflict. Control over the islands, which are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and also speculated to have natural gas deposits, has since become a hot political and nationalistic issue on both sides.

  "We will further deepen our economic cooperation to strengthen mutual confidence, so that in the future we can sign a peace treaty," Koizumi said at a joint news conference with Putin.

  Putin said he was "fully determined to work in that direction to solve all the issues we face."

  Putin, who arrived in Japan on Sunday for a three-day visit, said stronger economic relations between Russia and Japan will help improve overall ties between the countries, which remain strained by the territorial dispute.

  Putin will return home with Japan's blessing for its WTO bid. Russia, which has to strike separate deals with WTO members as a condition for joining the global trade body, has launched economic and legal reforms in order to qualify for the membership. It has yet to negotiate a deal with the US.

  "Russia's accession into this organization will help strengthen trade ties with Japan and make them more stable," Putin said.

  Putin also encouraged Japan companies to invest more in Russia, noting that Japan accounts for only 1 percent of accumulated foreign investment in his country.

  Putin said also yesterday that Russia remains committed to building an oil pipeline to the Pacific Ocean that would deliver Siberian crude to Japan and other nations in the region.

  "The construction of the oil pipeline, leading from eastern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean, opens big prospects," Putin said.

  "We are going to lead it to the Pacific coast for bringing energy resources to the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan," he said.

  For years, Japan and China have been struggling over alternate routes for the pipeline to ensure a steady supply of Siberian crude. The Russian Cabinet last year endorsed the Japanese-backed route to the Pacific coast, but then decided the destination for its first stage would be near the Chinese border.

  That raised concern in Japan that Russia may drag its feet on building the costly pipeline's extension to the Pacific Coast and ship crude to China.

  In an apparent bid to assuage such fears, Russian and Japanese officials signed a program of energy cooperation that contained Russia's obligation to start building the pipeline's extension to the Pacific Ocean "as quickly as possible."

  The program said that the pipeline's construction "corresponds to both nations' strategic interests."

  Koizumi said that building the pipeline was "mutually beneficial and very important."

  Putin invited Koizumi to visit Russia and said that the invitation was accepted.
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