By KUNA,
Tokyo : Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has cancelled planned visit to Europe, but will visit Russia April 25-27 to improve bilateral ties before hosting the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in July, the top government spokesman said Wednesday.
“Prime minister has decided to cancel his trip to European countries, which had been planned for early May, due to a tight parliamentary schedule in Tokyo, ” Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a press conference. Fukuda originally planned to visit to Britain, Germany and France — the three European member countries in the G-8 summit, according to Machimura. The G-8 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US.
During his three-day stay in Russia, Fukuda is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and president-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who takes office in May, to discuss such as the territorial dispute over the Russian-held islands in northern Japan, as well as global warming and peace and stability in Northeast Asia, said Machimura.
Russia has controlled the islands since the Soviet Union occupied them shortly after the end of World War II. The dispute has prevented the two sides from concluding a postwar peace treaty.