YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. July 3 (Interfax) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has described his planned visit to the Kuril islands, where he hopes to travel on Tuesday, as a very important point in his tour of Russia's Far East.
"Life is changing quickly in Sakhalin. It is a lesson for the large team that has arrived here today, because I have just said we are not flying out anywhere. But we have learned now that we can fly to the Kurils after all," he told activists of the United Russia party.
"I think it is a very important point of destination in our program," Medvedev said.
All programs to promote the development of the Kuril Islands must be implemented, and must therefore be controlled by ministers, he earlier said.
"Control should be direct, not remote, and the islands must be visited. The socioeconomic development of the Kuril Islands must become a priority when socioeconomic programs for the Far East and the Trans-Baikal region are being planned," Medvedev said.
Medvedev also said contracts and agreements under the federal programs must be concluded more quickly, as the budgetary resources allotted for 2012 have not been taken to this date.
"Red tape sometimes lasts longer than projects are implemented," he added.
Businessmen from the Asia-Pacific region want to implement joint projects in the Sakhalin region and in the Kuril Islands, he said.
These territories have an exclusive potential for the fishery industry and for various kinds of tourism," Medvedev said.
The prime minister and government officials are on a tour of the Far East Federal District to last from July 2 to 5.
Russia's long-lasting dispute with Japan over the territorial status of the Kuril Islands was re-ignited after Medvedev, then president, visited the Kunashir island on November 1 2010.
The Japanese government reacted sharply, saying that the visit could have a negative impact on Japanese-Russian relations. Japan recalled its ambassador to Moscow, but the ambassador returned soon to Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry described the decision to recall the Japanese ambassador as Japan's internal affair.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in January 2011 visited the garrisons of the 18th artillery division stationed in Iturup and Kunashir, which was followed by Tokyo's statement that the visit caused deep regret in Japan.
Talks between the Russian and Japanese foreign ministers in Moscow in February 2011 did not lead to progress in the territorial dispute. Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said back in Tokyo that Japan as previously insists on the return of four islands in the Kuril range. The then Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Naryshkin told Maehara that Japanese officials' statements on the Southern Kurils "render further discussions senseless." "Russia as before is prepared to discuss the peace treaty without preconditions and unilateral historical linkages," he said.
Japan lays territorial claims on four Kuril islands - Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan and Khabomai, citing the 1855 treaty and borders. Moscow agues that the Southern Kurils were joined to the Soviet Union after World War II under corresponding international agreements and its sovereignty over the islands cannot be disputed.