The Foreign Ministers of Japan and Russia agreed Saturday, Jan 28, to strengthen economic and security cooperation but made no progress on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute over the Kuril islands off northeastern Japan.

Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the two countries needed to address the territorial row in a calm manner.

"Resolving this problem and concluding a peace treaty is more necessary than ever," Gemba said. "But unfortunately ... our positions are different. We hope to resolve this through dialogue."

Lavrov said tackling the matter would have to wait until a new leader is chosen in Russia's presidential election on March 4.

The two men met for two hours in Tokyo for what Gemba described as "fruitful" discussions, The Associated Press reported.