title: Russia and Japan agree to speed up work on economic cooperation on disputed islands
text: MOSCOW (Reuters) - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said on Friday he agreed with his Russian counterpart to speed up work on economic cooperation on disputed islands in the Pacific, and on easing travel restrictions to the islands. His Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov said earlier after talks in Moscow with Kono that progress had been made on confidence-building measures related to the islands, known is Russia as the Kurile islands and in Japan as the Northern Territories. 