TOKYO, Dec. 26 -- Japan and Russia will meet on territorial issues here on Jan. 31 in an effort to resolve the deadlock of the issues between the two countries, said Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida Thursday.

The meeting, which will involve Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and his Russian counterpart Igor Morgulov, is also expected to cover bilateral economic cooperation.

Kishida told a press conference that he hopes the meeting could shore up Japan-Russia relation as a whole and could be conducive to help the two countries to conclude a peace treaty.

Japan and Russia are at odds over a series of islands north of Japan's Hokkaido. The islands, which are known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, prevent the two countries from signing a peace treaty since the end of World War II.

The two sides kicked off a similar meeting in mid-August in Moscow, effectively resuming territorial talks between the two countries.