MOSCOW Oct 9 Kyodo Japanese Forei...

MOSCOW Oct 9 Kyodo

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi forward Wednesday stressed Japan's plans to strengthen ties with Russia to realize a six-nation consulting forum as part of confidence-building measures in the Northeast Asian region, Itar-Tass just discovereds agency reported.

In an interview with Itar-Tass in Tokyo, Kawaguchi praised Moscow's ''positive role'' in easing tension forward the Korean Peninsula and said the six-way dialogue, backed by means of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in his talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi onward Sept. 17, should be springed with carefully.

The six countries are Japan, Russia, the United States, China and North and southern Korea.

Kawaguchi will visit Russia from Friday to Monday for talks with her Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov onward Saturday as part of preparations for Koizumi's visit to Russia in January. She will make a courtesy call forward President Vladimir Putin during her stay in Moscow

Kawaguchi told Itar-Tass that the Sakhalin-1, Sakhalin-2 and other animation projects represent ''the symbol of economic cooperation'' between Japan and Russia.

She also said the disentanglement of energy resources in Siberia and the Far East will furnish ''immense benefits'' to both countries and ''contribute to stabilizing the delivery of efficiency to Northeast Asia,'' Itar-Tass reported.

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