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The Russian Museum in St Petersburg hosted the first round of Russian-Japanese talks, with Vladimir Putin and Yoshiro Mori meeting each other face to face for the first time.

Opening the meeting, Acting President Putin said that Moscow attached great importance to relations with Japan and considered them to be a top priority of its foreign policy.

Mr Putin thanked Mr Mori for choosing to pay his first foreign visit to Russia after being elected prime minister.

Russian and Japanese delegations subsequently joined the talks at the Russian Museum. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said after the talks that both sides had emphasised the importance of more active political dialogue between Moscow and Tokyo, as well as expanded bilateral trade and economic ties that took into account each country’s potential and continued efforts to conclude the Russian-Japanese peace treaty.

Mr Putin and Mr Mori exchanged their opinions of the agenda of the upcoming July 2000 Group of Eight summit on Okinawa and discussed issues pertaining to UN activities.

After the meeting, Russia’s acting president and the Japanese prime minister took a guided tour of the State Hermitage Museum and held a joint news conference there.

Mr Putin said he had accepted an invitation to pay an official visit to Japan. He also agreed to hold face-to-face talks with Mori at the Asia-Pacific Forum, the UN Millennium Summit and the G8 summit on Okinawa. Moreover, the sides agreed that the Russian prime minister would visit Japan.

Moreover, Mr Putin assessed Russian economic performance in the last several months and expressed hope that the Okinawa summit would discuss expanding economic relations between Russia and major economic powers.