Senior Japanese and Russian officials held talks Wednesday on a post-World War II peace treaty, with the two countries yet to formally end hostilities due to a territorial dispute over Russian-held, Japanese-claimed islands, Kyodo news agency reported.

The treaty talks are the first since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in May in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to adopt a "new approach" to move forward the peace treaty negotiations.

"I hope we will have constructive and forward-looking talks," said Chikahito Harada, the Japanese government representative and ambassador in charge of Japan-Russia relations, at the outset of the meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, which was open to the media.

Source ; MENA