Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed that Putin will visit Japan in early 2005, Kyodo News reported Thursday.

At a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit on Sea Island, Georgia, the two leaders also reaffirmed that the two countries must resolve a decades-long territorial dispute and accelerate talks on a bilateral peace treaty.

Koizumi welcomed Putin's intention to visit Japan at the beginning of 2005 when the two countries commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the bilateral treaty of friendship, according to Kyodo.

Japan and Russia will set a specific date for Putin's visit to Japan through diplomatic channels, Kyodo said. Putin is expected to visit Japan in February because the treaty was signed in that month in 1855.

The meeting between Koizumi and Putin on the sidelines of the G-8 summit was their first since Putin was reelected as Russia's president in March. The G-8 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Koizumi said the two leaders should strive to make "concrete and substantive" progress on peace treaty talks ahead of Putin's visit to Japan in 2005, Kyodo said, quoting Putin as saying that Japanese-Russian relations are strategically important for Russia.

Putin also called for Japan's continued support for the G-8 initiative to help Russia dismantle unnecessary nuclear-related facilities and equipment so they are not sold to other countries or terrorists.